Forgive, Forget, then Move On
by Skittle Dog
Summary: After Kagome resolves to not engage in a final arguement with Inuyasha after catching him with Kikyo a bit of role reversal takes place. Kagome meets someone new and Inuyasha isn't forgiven. Don't you just love revenge? InuxKag
1. Silver Lining

**Forgive, Forget, then Move On**

**Chapter 1: Silver Lining**

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the rest of the gang in this story. Yet. (evil laugh)

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A/N: Well this is my first fanfic so I would like to hear what people think of this. Sorry if the editing isn't great, I wrote this whole thing on my iPod. Please Review!!  
'words like this are thoughts'  
"words like this are spoken"

_words like this are part of a flashback_

And so the story begins......

Kagome

This was it. She had finally had enough of the lies he fed her and the promises he broke. It stung, no it was more than stinging, to admit it but his love for Kikyo was stronger than any feelings he had for her. Pain tore through her breaking heart every time she thought about them, together. The grass crunched underneath her shoes as she walked to tell him the decision she had made. She knew in her heart that it was stupid to go to him. It would only turn into an argument between herself and Inuyasha. Her final memory of him would be of shouting and angry tears. But it was still better than her last memory of him being the sight of him locked in an embrace Kikyo. And it would be a chance to see the dog-eared boy one more time.

Inuyasha

'Where the hell had she gone to this time?' Inuyasha thought angrily to himself. If she got hurt or lost the jewel shards during one of her 'I just need to be alone right now' mindsets he was going to be pissed. If it was up to him he would have tracked her down and brought her back kicking and screaming if that's what it took to keep her, and the jewel shards, safe. But of course he had been ordered by Miroku and Sango to let her come back on her own. He recalled the little chat they had as they discussed the situation

Flashback

_ "What the hell is wrong with you!" Sango screamed at Inuyasha, "Once again you have hurt and angered Kagome by going to see a DEAD Kikyo!"_

The group, minus Kagome, was sitting around the fire inside of Kaede's hut. Inuyasha had recently returned without Kagome from the inner depths of the forest. Shippo was refusing to talk or look at the hanyou who had taken away Kagome from him. Miroku sat against the wall, hands folded into his purple and black attire as he watched the argument in front of him unfold. Sango stood above the silver and red figure whose ears had flattened against his head in an attempt to relieve himself from the noise of shouting.

"Why does it matter?" he retaliated. "I mean it's not like I did anything with Kikyo!"

"Inuyasha, are you sure you didn't do anything that would upset Kagome?" Miroku inquired calmly.

"All we did was talk and then maybe hugged a little." Not meeting anyone's eyes, Inuyasha replied awkwardly.

"That would be enough to get me mad."Sango glared meaningfully at Miroku.

Miroku ignored Sango's look and instead looked again to Inuyasha,"And Kagome saw you do this?"

Inuyasha nodded and said, a hint of anger creeping into his voice. "Yeah, she was watching from the bushes upwind of me like some kind of spy."

"Well than it looks like we are stuck here until she decides to return." Miroku responded closing his eyes with a sigh.

"Why?" Inuyasha, arrogant as always, started to make his way to the door."We all know I could easily sniff her out and bring that ungrateful wench back."

"Ah yes, than we would listen to the bickering of you two, followed by 4 or 5 sits from Kagome, and finally Kagome departing us to go back to her own time. Sound familiar?" Miroku answered with a snarky undertone.

"Feh" was the dog hanyou's best comeback.

"One way or the Inuyasha, you will not be bringing Kagome back here against her will." Sango ordered while placing her weapon across the door.

"Fine, but if any danger should befall her I won't be the one coming to her rescue," Inuyasha's eyes were cold at he said these words and he returned to a slumped position against a wall in the hut.

"Yeah, I'd like to see that," muttered Shippo, thinking it to be a cold day in hell before the overprotective hanyou actually would refuse to rush to Kagome's aid.

Flashback End

So now here they sat awaiting the return of a hurt and angry miko. Inuyasha gladly returned the three cold glares he was getting from a demon slayer, monk, and young kitsune. He didn't understand what he had done to provoke Kagome to this point. Well there might be one tiny thing, he thought darkly as he mulled over her likely reaction if she had seen the little detail he had kept from Miroku, Sango and Shippo.

Flashback

_ "Kikyo, I swore to you that I would protect you from that bastard Naraku and I'm going to hold to that promise until my dying breath." he whispered into her ear._

"Oh Inuyasha, how can you protect both I and my reincarnation at the same time?" she asked without emotion, staring into two trusting amber eyes.

"Kikyo, nothing will come between me in my obligation to protect you!" He said without a note of uncertainty in his voice as he took the pale girl into his arms. "Nothing on this earth will stop me." He murmured softly and pressed his lips against the dead miko's.  
  
Flashback End

Had Kagome seen him kissing Kikyo? Even worse, had she heard him talking to her emotionless double? Maybe that's what had her so upset. Maybe he was more to blame than he originally thought. It would have depressed her deeply to hear him say those words to Kikyo. Inuyasha recalled his promises to protect Kagome. He didn't really consider them when telling Kikyo that nothing would stop him from protecting her. It basically overruled any promise he had made to Kagome. Even though Kikyo had reminded him of her reincarnation he had paid no mind. Inuyasha had told Kikyo exactly what he wanted to say but in the process, had totally forgotten Kagome. Unfortunately, he realized sadly, even with Kagome in the picture he had meant everything he said. Right?

Kagome

Just then Kagome pushed through the door, her expression unreadable. Her eyes scanned over the faces of her most trusted friends until finally coming to rest upon the one she had lost trust in. His ears twitched under her icy gaze, and his eyes widened in fear as he got ready for the inevitable 'Sit' command. 'How am I going to do this?' she thought to herself bitterly.

"Inuyasha, come with me." she said with little emotion, only the smallest bit of sadness leaked into her voice.

"Why should I wench? I ain't got nothing to say to you." He retorted, pissed that she was obviously getting ready to sit him to hell. Her expression hardened with cold anger and the fire returned to her eyes.

"Fine than. I'll just go. Goodbye!" she yelled and left the hut and a perplexed hanyou. A low chuckle left her throat as she realized that stupid dog would never know the extent of which she despised his wench nickname for her. She had left many angry words unsaid in an attempt to improve her last moments with her companions and the boy who had stolen her heart. How could he be so damn ignorant that he never saw the feelings she had for him? Unless of course he preferred to stay with Kikyo, which regrettably he did. That stupid, deceiving hanyou had stolen any chance of a normal life for herself and along with all that, her heart. 'I want it back. He never returned my feelings for him. I want back the heart he took from me! As of right now I no longer have any feelings for Inuyasha!' she screamed insider her mind.

Who was she kidding? It's not possible to just stop loving someone like that. But he had broken her heart last night with that terrible promise he had made to Kikyo. And now she had no shoulder to cry on, no one to help her put back together the broken pieces of her heart. She collapsed in front of the tree where they had first met. Was it a coincidence that she always ended up here? Did this tree call to her in times where she needed comfort? Well if this tree was so powerful than maybe it could help her.

"Oh, Sacred Tree," she whispered, "I wish you could make Inuyasha experience what I'm feeling right now." And with those words she began to sob into her hands

Inuyasha

It felt like she had just abruptly ended the disastrous argument that had been occurring. No sits or hateful words. Just a curt and chilling but otherwise polite parting and then she was gone. The rest of the group was surprised at Inuyasha's cold refusal to Kagome's request that she speak to him alone. But what had really shocked them was that Kagome had backed down so easily and left with a frigid "Goodbye."

"Inuyasha, why are you not following her?" Miroku gave Inuyasha a hard stare.

"What happened to your request that I let her come to me?" he gave the monk a triumphant smirk.

"Did you see how upset she was? And all you can do is gloat about is the fact that we now agree that you should go get Kagome? No wonder she would want to leave such a thick-skilled bastard like you!" Sango screeched.

"Forget what we said, Inuyasha. Hurry to her before it's too late!" Miroku said as he shoved the stubborn hanyou out of the hut with the combined help of Shippo and Sango.

Kagome

Her tears started to dry as she realized that she should be back in her own time by now. She had cried enough in this era for the cheating silver haired boy. A few remaining sobs racked through her body as she heard footsteps approaching. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of silver, confirming her guess. It had to be Inuyasha. Well, she didn't need his apology and the lies he would tell her to make her forgive him and return to the seemingly endless jewel hunt. All she was good for was finding the damn Shikon jewel shards. In his mind she was nothing but a jewel detector and Inuyasha didn't care how much he hurt her. Now was her chance to clear her head of everything she needed to scream at him.

"What the hell have I done to deserve this? The whole time I have spent in this era while fighting those damn demons I have been by your side! And what do I get in return? You hurry off to the woods and do gods know what with that DEAD BITCH KIKYO! I have given up my safe life for you so I could return to this demon infested hell! And I'm done being your damn jewel detector! That's all I've ever been good for isn't! Well that's it you lying, cheating son of a bitch! I'm gone and I'm never coming back! Have fun in hell!" That was probably the longest angry rant she had ever gotten through without breaking down crying and it was the best feeling in the world to have that off her shoulders.

"Well, no begging for me to come back? No snippy little comeback?" she asked coldly. She was met with stunned silence. "So I'm not even worth a response anymore? Do you like making me infuriated? Because you sure know how to do it! So why don't you just leave me alone and SIT BOY!" She shrieked.

Instead of hearing the echoing BANG and the creation of a crater that usually followed the command, she heard a soft whoosh of grass as the figure behind her plopped down behind her into the grass.

"Look I'm no saint but I don't think I've done anything to deserve THAT," the figure said talking slightly too fast in a voice that was most defiantly not Inuyasha's, "Hell, I don't even know you. And what does telling me to sit do?"

Kagome turned to see a boy who resembled Inuyasha in only one aspect. His hair was silver. It hung low just above two piercing blue eyes. Unlike Inuyasha the boy's hair stopped at his neck. But the most surprising thing about the victim of her crazed rant was his clothing. He was adorned in a blue shirt with a white stripe that ran across it and had faded blue jeans for pants. The shoes he wore seemed to be some type of Nike (I do not own) track shoes. Over his shoulder he had slung a black bag that seemed to be almost empty.

"By the way do you know where the hell we are? I was at this shrine place and..." His explanation was cut off by the girl in front of him.

"Wait, wait, wait, you've been to the shrine? You're from the future too? You're not Inuyasha? Who the hell are you?" She asked hysterically. Then it registered that she had just screamed her heart out at a boy who most likely didn't deserve it. "Oh gosh! I'm so sorry I took out my anger on you! Nothing I said was meant for you!"

"I figured as much seeing as we have never met," he muttered still watching Kagome intently, "And to answer your questions yeah I was that deserted shrine," he now regarded her somewhat suspiciously. His mind took a moment to register the gravity of her second question, "And if I'm from the future is this the past?" he asked his blue eyes widening slightly. 'Mmmhh...I could get lost in those eyes,' Kagome thought. They resembled twin chips of ice being that pale shade of blue. Instead of looking as cold as the frozen water they mirrored, she found something comforting in them. But they still held a certain feeling of scarred hardness, like he could easily be as chilling as the hue of his eyes suggested. 'At least this guy has got his hair cut in his life unlike a silver haired hanyou I know.' Her expression froze. She had been so caught up in the arrival of this boy that she had forgotten about him...she had forgotten Inuyasha.

"Hello? Earth to girl I just met?" The boy said in a sing songy way while snapping his fingers in front of her.

She refocused and tears sprung into her eyes. A sob worked its way into her throat and shook her whole being. Thoughts of the boy with silver dog ears came into her mind as the wound in her heart began to bleed with sadness once more.

"Aw shit, don't cry. Look I don't know what this guy you meant to scream at did to you but it'll be okay. Anyone who makes someone cry like that doesn't deserve them in the first place," Not really knowing how to deal with this distraught girl; he tried to think of what his sister would say, "Umm... So cheer up, girl, your heart might be broken but it can't get much worse from this point on, right?"

She looked up into his blue eyes and seeing only sympathy she collapsed into his arms.

Boy from Future (A/N: I'll get to his name next chapter)

This had been one of the weirdest days of his life. First the odd shrine that contained a hidden well. Then hearing those gut-retching sobs that seemed to be at the bottom of the well. But going down the waterless well only brought him here to this amazing forest. And to top it all off the weeping had come from this girl who was now clinging to him for dear life while spilling more tears than he thought possible. She had her arms wrapped around his back and her head pressed against his neck with her teary eyes closed. It was hard for him to imagine the bastard who could make a girl cry like this. What kind of heartless jerk could hurt a girl to the point where she threw herself into the arms of a random stranger? Not that he minded having her pressed against him like this. The moment would improve without the tears though.

His blue eyes closed while he inhaled her scent. It was so powerful with her so close. She smelt like cherries and lilac and it was heavenly. Her sobbing stopped and she eased out of his arms, sniffling pitifully. Chocolate baby deer eyes that begged to be comforted opened and glanced at him, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry; I don't know what came over me." Red flushes appeared on either side of her face.

"No problem," The embarrassed feeling was obviously mutual as his face turned red as well. "But can you tell me the way out of here? I'm not looking for an extended stay in the past."

"Sure, I was just going there myself." A small smile began to play on her lips but it didn't reach her eyes that still held deep sadness.

"Great maybe we can catch a cup of coffee later," He suggested casually. This chick sure as hell needed something to cheer her up. Her eyes widened at the offer but she nodded.

"Yeah maybe... but we need to find our way back to the well first." With that she began walking purposefully through the overgrown woods. Not the best idea while still shaking uncontrollably from the leftover coughing she had to deal with for crying so hard. After two steps she fell flat on her face after catching her foot on a root. Angry grumbling came from her mouth as she struggled to get up. One of her ankles wasn't too happy about having to support her weight, her knees buckled and once again her face met grass.

"Well it looks like you can't walk a straight line just yet. Were you drowning your sorrows in a bottle of sake before I arrived?" He said jokingly while picking her up bridal style and continuing through the forest.

"I am not drunk! Eeeee!! Put me down! I can walk just fine!!" she whined as they approached the Bone Eater's well.

"Ok...," he relented and gently set her down, "Just lean on me ok? I don't want you getting hurt when we go down." She nodded and pressed herself against him and hopped to the edge of the portal back to her time. He lifted himself and passenger up onto the brim of the seemingly bottomless hole.

"Ready?" he asked.  
"Ready!" she answered and boy and girl, both not knowing the other's name disappeared in a bright flash.

Nothing witnessed this odd pair hurl themselves into darkness. Nothing except for the bright emerald eyes of an orange-haired fox kit.

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A/N: Hmm.....what will Shippo do now that he knows about Kagome's whereabouts? I don't know yet but I'll think of something! This is defiantly not my best work and I am guessing that's due to the many fluffy scenes. Particularly the one with Inuyasha and Kikyo. Yuck. But it had to be written to suit the story. InuxKag all the way!! So how was my first fanfic? Review! Review! Review! 


	2. Names and Blades

Chapter 2: Names and Blades

Disclaimer: Sadly, I must admit that I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters.

A/N: Once again this was written on an IPod so I apologize for mistakes with spelling, grammar, capitalization etc. Okay so I finally finished chapter 2! I'm glad I got reviews on chapter 1. Thanks so much for those!  
Well this chapter kind of went in a different direction than I originally planned for but I just randomly write so I'll see where it goes.

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Shippo

Had he actually just seen what he thought he saw? Kagome, one of the most sensible people he knew, had taken a jump with a total stranger rather than facing Inuyasha? The stranger did seem nicer than Inuyasha though, he seemed genuinely concerned that she was hurt and had let her lean on him as they walked to the well. Kagome wasn't so sad anymore either. Shippo hated seeing her when Inuyasha made her cry. The fox kit could only begin to imagine Inuyasha's anger when he found out about this new boy. His scent seemed human from the bushes in which the kitsune was hiding. Poor guy would get his face beat in when the jealous half demon found out how close the oddly dressed boy had been to Kagome.

Well.......if Inuyasha found out. A mischievous grin found its way onto Shippo's face. Maybe he wouldn't tell anyone what he saw. Storm clouds were rolling in and rain would wash the scent away. Nothing was stopping him from lying to the half demon besides Shippo's own desire to have Kagome around. Though it pained him to be away from the kindhearted miko, she could use some time away from Inuyasha. That stupid hanyou had all but ruined any relationship he had with Kagome so what was the harm in letting her hang out with someone new? 'But the best part will be,' Shippo thought with an evil smirk, 'The look on Inuyasha's face if she comes back with that boy.' He laughed darkly to himself and skipped merrily away from the well and any thoughts of telling Inuyasha of Kagome's encounter with the blue eyed boy.

Inuyasha

Rain began to pour down and Inuyasha growled when Kagome's scent began to wash away. It was a pretty safe bet that she had returned to her own time but he wanted to make sure that she hadn't ditched the jewel shards on the way there. He had started to track her just to make sure she hadn't done anything stupid in a fit of rage aimed at him.

"Damn't I've lost it. I can't trace her past this point." Inuyasha glanced back at a slightly angry and very wet monk.

"You do realize we would have traced her back to the well by now and perhaps even caught up to her before she left, if you hadn't sulked in a tree for half an hour?" Miruko's eyes closed in frustration and annoyance directed at the hanyou.

"Pffft, it was more like 15 minutes," Inuyasha said indignantly.

"It hardly matters now. We should head back to the village to see if Sango or Shippo found anything before the rain." Miroku turned around and broke into a slight run.

Inuyasha sighed and followed him through the dense and slippery undergrowth of the forest.

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Sango hopped off Kirara's cream colored back and headed into Kaede's hut. Rain was pouring down fiercely upon the roof creating a noise that mirrored a woodpecker slamming its beak repeatedly into a tree. Miroku was stoking the fire at the center of the hut while Shippo was huddled in the corner with a cheerful smile on his face and a guilty look in his eyes. Inuyasha had his ears flattened against his head, trying and failing to drive out the constant pounding sound of the rain. The hanyou's face snapped up when she walked in with the now tiny Kirara on her shoulder.

"Did you find anything?" his face was unreadable except for a small hint of worry.

"No she wasn't in any of the hot springs or helping with any of the villager's. She probably went home, she had every right to leave based on how cruel you were to her," Sango's eyes still burned with anger at the half demon.

"Feh. It's not like I care about her 'feelings.' If she doesn't like it when I see Kikyo she shouldn't come to watch." His ears drooped slightly in disappointment that Kagome hadn't stayed in the feudal era with him.

"How can you say that? You obviously care for her or you wouldn't have already started your pining for her to return." Sango had observed Inuyasha's looks of longing at the door over the many times Kagome had returned to her own time due to a stupid fight. The inu-hanyou's looks at the door numbered at least six starting from when Sango walked in.

"What? I don't pine for anyone!"

Sango held up three fingers behind her back for only Miruko and Shippo to see. She counted down one...two...three...Inuyasha's amber eyes slid in the door's direction. The monk erupted in laughter but Shippo only acknowledged that he had seen by widening the smile on his face.

Miruko noticed the unusual silence coming from the, on most days, talkative kitsune. "So Shippo, did you find anything out of ordinary at the well?"

Shippo stared at the floor and answered, "Kagome's scent was around the well before the rain came so I'm almost positive she went back to her world..." His words trailed off and the fox demon's eyes continued to focus on the floor.

"That all, Shippo? You didn't see anything else?" Sango asked also noticing Shippo's strange behavior. Both demon slayer and monk watched mixed emotions display themselves on Shippo's face.

"Yes...I mean umm... No...wait a mean yes....no I-I-I....No t-t-there wasn't anything else." Shippo replied with a stutter and an expression of guilt on his face. While Miroku and Sango took note of this weird answer a silver-haired half demon only heard the message and not how it was said.

"Good, that must mean she is back in her own era. Usually I give her three days to calm down but this time I'm bringing her back in two. We need to get back on Naraku's trail as soon as possible." Inuyasha leaned against the wall with a satisfied smirk on his face. His eyes closed in contentment, glad to have decided this before the rest of his group attempted to make him get back Kagome immediately.

"If she lets you bring her back," Shippo mumbled somewhat to himself with a mischievous smile on his face.

Inuyasha's amber eyes snapped open in anger, "And why wouldn't she?"

"Maybe she has finally realized she is too good for a no good, cheating dog." Shippo yipped back the angry hanyou, "Maybe she's found someone new that might actually treat her right..."

The last bit of Shippo's argument brought about a knowing glance between Miruko and Sango, who were now convinced that Shippo had been lying about what he saw at the well earlier.

The thought of Kagome being with someone else did not go over well with Inuyasha who growled murderously at the kitsune, "How would you know Shippo, your just a kid. Besides..." The half-demon's eyes flashed dangerously, "Who would Kagome chose that would be worth more than ever seeing m-all of us ever again?" 'Nice slipup in the threatening speech' said his sarcastic conscience. 'Shut up." Inuyasha snarled in his head, 'She promised to stay by my side. That's the only reason I started to say me. 'Just keep telling you that.' was his conscience's answer before it faded away. The infuriated look Inuyasha was giving Shippo only increased when the two sided argument in his head ended.

A frightened Shippo answered one more time while the rain continued to fall relentlessly outside, "I don't know..." the fox kit's eyes shown with fear of the hanyou's wrath, "But it wouldn't be very hard to be better than you, Inuyasha!"

Kagome

Rain that mirrored the feudal era's storm was pouring down in the modern world. She was soaking wet almost the moment she stepped out of the room that contained the hidden well. It didn't help that her limping slowed her and the silver haired boy's progress to the house considerably.

He noticed her discomfort and laughed, "Awl.... Can't take a little bit of rain?" His teasing didn't go over well with the water-logged miko. She shot a glare at him and started to limp faster. "Hey, slow down your only going to make your ankle worse."

"I want to be out of this rain so what do you suggest I do?" She clenched her teeth in pain every time she supported any of her weight on the sprain.

"Here let me carry you, we'll be back in the house in no time." He stopped the injured girl from advancing any further, "You're not going to be able to walk much farther on that ankle."

"Ok fine but hurry please! This rain is freezing!" She desperately wanted to get somewhere dry and away from the downpour. The boy lifted her up, careful not to hurt her ankle in the process, and began sprinting towards the door. Apparently her mother thought the house was safe from burglars and had left the door unlocked. He walked down the hall searching for something to set the girl down on. Finally he came upon a couch and gently dropped her on it. Her ankle had started to swell up with purplish blue bruises covering it.

He examined her ankle, "Well it's not that bad of a sprain. With a good night's sleep you should be able to walk with a slight limp by tomorrow."

"Yay! I don't think I could spend a whole day cooped up in this house," She winced from the throbbing pain coming from the injury, "Umm...do you think you could get some ice for this? The kitchen is right across the hall and the towels are in the top drawer next to the stove."

"Your wish is my command." The boy said jokingly with a hint of sarcasm. He turned and went into the hall. She heard a drawer being opened and closed. Then the noise of the fridge's ice dispenser and soon he had returned to the room carrying a wrapped towel and a piece of paper.

"Here's the ice," he handed her the towel that contained multiple ice cubes. She eyed the scrap of paper in his hand. "Oh and I think your family left a note for you." Quickly, she snatched the paper out of his grasp and read its contents.

_Dear Kagome,  
At Sota's soccer tournament. In case you return food is in the fridge. We'll be back early Sunday morning.  
Love Mama, Sota, and Grandpa_

She crumpled up the note and flung it into a waste basket on the other side of the room. "It looks like I have the house to myself for the rest of the night." Her tired form leaned back into the plush pillows of the couch.

"Well, princess since you're back safe in your castle, I'll be returning to my own home." He gave her a teasing smile and started to make his way towards the door.

"Wait," She said ignoring the 'princess' comment. "You never told me your name."

"Neither did you." His pale blue eyes met her gaze.

She felt in involuntary blush creep across her face. "Right, it's Kagome." She reached out to shake his hand.

"I'm Pietro," He took her hand and kissed it, "I'll come by tomorrow and we can get that coffee I promised." And with that he turned and was gone.

'Pietro? That doesn't sound very Japanese,' she closed her chocolate brown eyes, 'I'll have to ask him about it tomorrow.' She smiled at the thought of getting coffee with the boy who so casually kissed her hand. Definitely something Inuyasha would never do.

Oh Hell.

She couldn't believe it. No thoughts of the hanyou had crossed her mind while with Pietro. Tears started to fill Kagome's eyes. How could she have forgotten Inuyasha so easily? He was the reason she had even met Pietro. Depression and sadness began to fill the miko's mind. Flashing through her head were memories of the dog eared boy that she needed to forget but longed to be with. He wouldn't come for her this time. Kikyo had probably already taken her place. She could see the group fighting off demons with the dead miko who was so much stronger than herself. It would be better that way, all of her friends would be happy. Everyone would be happy. Except for her. Pitiful sobbing started echoing through her body, reaching her broken soul.

Why did her family have to be away now of all times? The emptiness of the house and the feeling of being alone only made her depression worse. A sigh escaped her lips. They didn't need her either. Her own family was doing just fine without her. She wasn't needed by anyone anymore. Maybe it would be better if she wasn't around anymore. Less complications and problems for everyone. Slowly she sat up and shakily stood up. Pain coursed through her ankle but it didn't matter anymore.

With a listless and creepingly slow pace she proceeded to the kitchen. Her eyes were unfocused as she opened a drawer next to the sink. Out of it she pulled a razor sharp knife. She had heard about people who cut themselves to release pain. Maybe it would help...

Her slow, lifeless pace continued as she limped into her bedroom. The expression that filled her face was that of a defeated and shattered soul. She toppled into the soft blankets and pillows of her bed, knife still in hand. 'If I'm going to die I want to die somewhere comfy.' she thought with a bitter laugh. Well this was it. Time to say goodbye to her pathetic excuse for her life. It was a bit of a relief, knowing that she would soon be free of everything. Faces of her friends and family who didn't need her or care for her filled her mind. She juggled the knife back and forth as she recalled them. Miruko and Sango. They would probably end up married. They didn't need her. Shippo. Poor little kid, her death would probably affect him most. But Sango would probably adopt him or he could go live with other fox tribes. He didn't need her. It occurred to her that her friend's in the feudal era would never know of her death. Ahh... But she still had the jewel shards. A greedy hanyou would have to retrieve them from her one last time. So they would know eventually. Her family would be affected first.

Sota. He was a good kid who had proven he didn't need his older sister's help. It would hurt and confuse him when he found out what she had done. Grandpa. She could already see him praying for her soul. Mama. Kagome loved her mother but how much could she really care for her daughter? Hell, she let her go to the fucking feudal era to risk her life fighting deadly demons on a daily basis.

Finally there was the smirking face of the boy with silver dog ears. Inuyasha. Her love for him was never returned. His heart belonged solely to Kikyo and that would never change. The half demon had never seen her as more than a jewel detector. He didn't care about her. Nobody cared about her enough to help her when she needed it most. The knife came closer to her skin.

A final face entered her mind while a voice rang out inside her head. "I'll come by tomorrow and we can get that coffee I promised." She could picture him showing up at her house in the morning. The stunned shock on his face when her mother told him the news. Those dazzling blue eyes clouding with sadness. He cared. He had cared enough to hold her and let her cry away the tears of a broken heart. Carried her when she was hurt. Helped her with her injury. Kissed her hand and promised to take her out the next day. Kagome stared at the knife, only to set it down gently on her side table. 'Maybe somebody does care,' was the last thought to cross her mind before drifting off to dreams of mocha lattes and the boy who could make her forget about Inuyasha.

Ice blue eyes watched from outside and left only when satisfied that the girl had fallen asleep, away from any ideas of using a knife for such a sad purpose.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

A/N: Finally I'm done with this chapter. Grr...I think I'm gonna write one more before I get to the one where I reunite miko and hanyou. Hehe I already have their return to the feudal era planned out in my head and it isn't looking good for Inuyasha...I promise I'll write chapter 3 soon! For now let me know what you think about my story!


	3. Coffee Fixes Everything

Chapter 3: Coffee Fixes Everything

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or anything having to do with him (But I wish I Owned his ears)

A/N: Yeah I'm not a huge fan of this chapter. But at least I got it posted so here ya go!

Sango

"Hiraikotsu!" The giant bone boomerang cut through tree trunks, causing them to crash to the ground. A figure clothed in the purple and black robes swung his staff in front of a fast moving, terrified creature. Its break for the forest ended abruptly when confronted with the jagged limbs of the felled trees. The demon slayer caught her weapon during her run towards the cornered creature. Both monk and demon slayer approached the demon with twisted smiles on their faces.

"So Shippo, care to inform us of everything you saw at the well? We want the whole story this time." Miroku picked up the squealing fox kit by his bushy orange tail. He brought him to eye level and shook the demon vigorously, "Come on out with it."

"You're crazy! I already told you what I saw!" Shippo crossed his arms, still hanging upside down.

"Oh come on Shippo, we promise we won't tell Inuyasha." Sango promised in a sickly sweet voice. The demon slayer was rapidly losing patience with the kit.

The kitsune snorted in disbelief, "Yeah right, you two are so convinced Inuyasha and Kagome should be together, you'd tell him the minute I got the words out of my mouth."

"And why is that Shippo? You're going to tell us or we are going to knock some serious sense into your cute little head." Miroku warned and held his staff in a threatening position over his head. Sango lifted up her boomerang in a similar manner.

The fox youkai gulped and, seeing the impending danger, decided to tell them what they wanted, "Fine but both of you have to swear not to tell Inuyasha." He looked back in forth between the monk and demon slayer.

"We swear," Miruko set down the disgruntled fox kit and crouched down beside him. "Now tell."

"Well it's a little complicated, I'll have to draw it for you." Shippo pulled out a box of crayons and a few sheets of paper from his vest. The artistic demon then began illustrating the previously untold interactions between a mysterious boy with blue eyes and a broken hearted miko. After seeing and listening to Shippo's little tale both Miruko and Sango were wide eyed and bewildered.

"So you're saying Kagome was wrapped around this boy just because she was crying? This guy's a genius! I should have been going after grief stricken girls ..." Miroku was stopped cold by the withering look he was receiving from Sango, "I mean...ummm...I can't believe Kagome would put so much trust in a absolute stranger."

"Neither can I but Kagome has always been a bit on the naive side." Still glaring at Miruko, Sango sighed and looked at the fox kit, "Well I guess we have to keep our promise to you, Shippo. That dumb dog has been unfair to Kagome, she deserves the opportunity to live her own life and meet new people. Inuyasha has already decided to fetch Kagome tomorrow so we'll just have to see how things go," Sango glanced at the monk and kitsune, "Agreed?" Both of her comrades nodded in unison. 'Until then," Sango looked into the early morning sky, 'I hope you can handle yourself, Kagome.'

Kagome

Morning. Those blissful few moments where you don't remember recent events. Every bad memory is hidden and you can pretend that nothing is wrong in the world. Then the fog clouding your mind lifts and drops the pressures of your life on you like a ton of bricks.

That's how the young miko felt when she awoke in her pink room, knife still lying on her side table. At first she didn't realize the significance of the blade. Her face was covered in dried tears that she didn't recall crying. Memories tried to surface in her mind but they were hazy and not comprehendible. But a female voice pierced the haze that hid the girl's memories and the actions of the previous night came back to her in a rush of thoughts and images.

Ms. Higurashi

"Kagome? Are you here? We're back from the soccer tournament!" Her mother yelled from somewhere outside of the room. The door knob twisted slowly and Ms. Higurashi opened the door to reveal her daughter sitting up in bed staring blankly at a knife. It gleamed wickedly in the morning light. Ms. Higurashi gasped slightly while going through the different options of why her child would have the blade in her room. Her face filled with concern for her oldest child's mental health. Kagome looked up her mother and gave her a weak smile.

"Don't worry mom I just needed to cut a piece of string that was hanging off one of my sweaters." She sniffled slightly but her expression became clearer.

"Okay but Kagome I'm here if you need to talk to me about anything," Ms. Higurashi was not convinced by her daughter's explanation but seeing that Kagome had no cuts she had to grant her daughter the benefit of doubt. "Breakfast will be ready in five minutes so get yourself together." She gently closed the door on her time-traveling daughter.

Kagome

Lying to her mother was hard but she really didn't need a trip to see a psychologist. Besides she never actually tried to hurt herself, only considered it. She couldn't believe how close she had come to trying to kill herself over an arrogant, self important half demon. No way was she going to let him do that to her. She was going to live her own life without any interfering hanyous. Testing her sprained ankle, she hopped carefully off the bed. Minimal pain came from the action of putting any weight on her injury. If she walked with a slight limp she was able to get along comfortably.

Her closet was filled with clothes she never got to use because of her excursions to the feudal era. She picked out a white tee with pretty purple floral patterns climbing up along the side. A pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a light purple and sapphire jacket accompanied the tee. Completing the outfit were a pair of violet Converse. After getting dressed the girl grabbed an ebony purse and strolled into the kitchen.

"Mom, I should have told you before I can't eat breakfast with you all." Sota gave his sister an odd look. He hadn't seen her dressed in clothes like this since before she fell into the well. Her mother also noticed this change in her daughter's style.

"Why? Are you going back to the feudal era this early?" Bacon and eggs were being slid on to plates for Sota, her mother, and her grandpa who had yet to grace the room with his presence.

Kagome rolled her eyes and spit out a sarcastic, "Yeah, right," She peeked out the window but returned her focus to her family. "Actually, I'm getting some coffee with a new friend of mine. I'm pretty sure he'll be picking me up soon."

"He?" Sota and Ms. Higurashi queried at the same time. Kagome nodded and stood up on her the tips of her toes to look out the window again.

"But I thought you were going out wi-..." Sota was cut off mid-sentence by a loud VROOOOMM!

The whole Higurashi family jumped at the extreme noise coming from an engine outside. Following the noise was the abrupt click of the vehicle being switched off. Seconds later came a knocking on the front door. 'How did he get to the door so fast?' Kagome wondered as she went down the hallway to greet her friend. Her mother and brother poked their heads out of kitchen to catch a glimpse of the teenage girl's friend. Swinging the door open swiftly she gave him a smile and shot a glare at her curious family.

Pietro stood in the doorway carrying a helmet in one arm. Black jeans and a gray t-shirt with a pair of white Nike's adorned with a green swoosh was the ensemble of clothing he had thrown together. Crisp blue eyes looked the miko up and down.

"Wow Kagome, did you get yourself all dressed up just for me?" He said playfully before obviously regretting saying this when he saw her mother and brother watching.

She laughed nervously,"Well, we better get going. Don't want to be late. Bye Mom! Bye Sota!" Grabbing Pietro by the arm she dragged him outside and slammed the door shut behind her.

Sota gave his mother a confused look, "How can you be late for coffee?"

The slightly astonished mom gave her son a kind smile, "She probably just wanted to beat the morning rush, dear."

"Yeah maybe...I wonder if Inuyasha knows about her new 'friend'." The little boy admired the half demon and he didn't want his sister to stop seeing the hanyou.

"I'm sure Kagome knows what she's doing." His mother replied. Both relatives of the girl stared blankly at the door through which she had recently disappeared.

"So what's the huge hurry to get away from the family?" Pietro asked with an amused smirk before absconding to the other side of the house.

She rolled her eyes and followed, "Like you don't already know." It crossed her mind briefly that she had never seen his car. A car that could produce the rumble she heard earlier had to be powerful. Probably really fast too. Then she remembered the helmet he had been holding earlier. The puzzle pieces started to come together in her mind. 'Oh no not a...' Her thoughts trailed off after making it round the corner of her home. He put up the kickstand and tossed her a snow-white helmet.

"I hope you like motorcycles." He said with an evil grin.

"Slow down! Slow down!" Squealed protests had no affect on the dare devil controlling the supercharged bike. Starting out, the ride hadn't been that bad. That brief period had seemed similar to riding on Inuyasha's back. Unfortunately this only lasted until the bike hit the main roads. In a sudden surge of speed they were flying down the blacktop paying no heed to the honking horns and distressed drivers who he had narrowly avoided.

Pietro was laughing like a maniac during her screams of protest and what seemed like a constant stream of dangerous situations. Her arms were wrapped around him so tight it was surprising he could find the breath to keep up his crazed cackling.

"Sorry but no way in hell am I slowing down." He yelled over the wind gleefully. The silver haired boy seemed to be in his element at the moment. Navigating through Tokyo's traffic seemed second nature to him. Of course this did not stop her from shrieking when the motorcycle slid narrowly between a huge truck and a minivan.

She thanked her lucky stars when she saw the Starbucks (A/N: I don't own Starbucks) coming up in the distance. With a bit of regret Pietro slowed the vehicle and pulled into a parking lot before finally killing the engine when reaching a space close to the entrance. Pressing a button attached to his key ring caused the motorcycle to blink its lights and beep signaling that it was locked. He put the kickstand down and slowly got off the bike, a frightened Kagome still attached.

"Wanna let go?" He asked while raising his eyebrow at the girl embracing his middle. Still shaking she released him from her grip.

"Are you insane? With the way you were driving we could have caused a car accident! Or died!" As exhilarating as the ride was she couldn't believe he could be so reckless.

"I would never put your life at risk! Believe me, we were never in any danger," Obviously he hadn't been totally forgiven based on the glowers coming from the miko. "Aww...come on don't hate me." Blue eyes begged her for mercy.

"Okay but when we drive back please don't get so close to the police cars. I don't want a criminal record before I even get my license."

"Ha like they could catch me," The boy snickered before holding the door to the coffee shop open for Kagome. Delicious scents swirled through the air enticing the miko and Pietro further inside. Not many people had made it through the early morning traffic yet so the shop was relatively empty.

"Thank God, no line." Bounding up to the register he beckoned for her to follow. They both stared at the menu going through the different options.

"I think I'll take an extra-hot triple Americano One of the employees started working on his drink, "What do you want Kagome?"

"Umm...I'll have a dry white mocha please." She watched as another employee started carrying out her order. It didn't take long for the drinks to be finished. Kagome started to fish through her purse so she could scrounge up some cash to pay for her drink.

Pietro laughed, "Don't worry I can pay," She was about to protest but he whisked out a shiny credit card and handed it to the cashier.

"Your parents trust you with a credit card?" Kagome's mother would never let her daughter have the privilege of access to that kind of money.

"Well, they trust my older sister with a credit card. Unfortunately it was vulnerably lying on the counter this morning and I just couldn't resist." A devious smile came across his face while recalling his thievery of the little plastic card. Kagome, who was usually against stealing, giggled despite of her principles. Sitting down at a table by the window she sipped her coffee and stared out at the hazy streets. Suddenly Pietro's expression became serious.

"Kagome I don't know what bad memories this will bring back for you but where were we on the other side of that well?"

'Oh right! Pietro didn't know anything about the jewel shards, demons, or any of the other stuff involved in her crazy double life.' She didn't really want to get him mixed up with the dangers the feudal era held but seeing that he had already been down the well she didn't have much of a choice. It was still a mystery to her why he could go through the well at all. The miko sighed and began to tell her story to the blue eyed boy. Surprisingly he didn't interrupt or ask questions throughout the tale. Actually, she noticed as she finished the story of her life, that he seemed to accept it all a little too easily.

"So you're saying you fight demons in this version of feudal Japan but some demons are helping you?" This seemed to be the only detail that Pietro was truly baffled by. Some of her descriptions of her demon friends surprised the boy to but that was more understandable. How often do you see somebody with dog ears or in Shippo's case a tail?

"Yeah it's kind of rare but some of the demons were really nice. We only fought the bad ones like Naraku and all of his incarnations." Images of the many battle scenes against various enemies played in her mind. Battles that she had decided to leave behind in the feudal era with Inuyasha.

"Why the past tense?" 'Damn't he's observant' she thought and looked away from his questioning blue stare. "Aren't you going back? I thought you said that you helped collect the shards of that special jewel?"

Hurriedly she contemplated how to explain her final departure in the most painless way possible, "One member of my group made it very clear that I wasn't needed and someone could take my place."

"Ah so that explains the circumstances of our first meeting." A blush reddened Kagome's pale skin when reliving the harsh words she had screamed at Pietro after mistaking him for Inuyasha.

"I'm guessing it was the half demon?" Pietro asked, guessing at the identity of the one who had caused the miko to go back through the well permanently.

"What makes you think that?" Apparently the silver haired boy had some hidden deductive abilities.

"Well he fits the profile perfectly."

"Profile?"

"Yep. From some of the battles you described he had to be pretty lucky to make it out alive. And you said he was often prideful to the point where he put you and your friends in dangerous situations so he must be stupid. Finally he left his friends unprotected to go see a dead ex girlfriend which would mean he's crazy."

Kagome gave him an odd look and asked, "How does that make him fit the profile of the person who made me come back to the present?"

"Well this person must have meant a lot to you if their opinion could make you so upset." Icy blue eyes held a steady gaze with the miko, "So that means this guy would be lucky to have a girl like you caring so much for them. This guy would be stupid for thinking that any clay girl, even if she was the original, could be better or more beautiful than you. But most of all he would have to be crazy to let someone like you get away."

Kagome felt her face heat up during Pietro's explanation for his answer. He sure had a way with giving her indirect compliments.

"Am I right? Was it the half demon?" Flashing a confident smirk her way it was clear he assumed that his guess was flawless.

"Yeah you're correct." Giving him a shy smile the pair watched each other until the moment was shattered by the ringing of a cell phone. Snapping back into reality Pietro grabbed his phone from his pocket and answered. Unfortunately Kagome could only hear one side of the conversation.

"Hello?" He looked at Kagome and mouthed the word sister.

"Yeah I took it; you left the damn thing in the kitchen. I didn't know we were out of food."

"Oh really? You're all starving?" The boy said in mock sympathy, "Well that sucks cause I'm busy. Make them get off their lazy asses and get their own damn lunch." The faint voice coming from the cell increased in pitch and it sounded like Pietro was getting screamed at by his older sibling.

"Calm down! It's just food you don't need to go insane."

"Okay fine. Alright just text me the list. Yeah I'll be there in an hour."

Taking a final sip of his coffee he stood up and gave Kagome a broad smile,"Well my dumbass siblings can't figure out how to order a pizza so it looks like we're going grocery shopping."

Inuyasha

Something didn't feel right. He was never at ease when Kagome wasn't in his sight but this was different. All day Miruko, Sango, Shippo and yes even Kirara seemed to be avoiding him. Normally this wouldn't bother him, he enjoyed time to himself. Even the half demon needed time to sort through his thoughts. Today though, the silence was maddening. Everyone but him had something to preoccupy their time. Sango had taken Kirara and flown back to her village to repair her weapons. Shippo was helping Kaede gather herbs in some obscure area of the forest. And Miruko was being...well Miruko with the girls in the village. A whine escaped the half demon's throat. It depressed him that the people he had started to consider family, or in the dog part of his mind his 'pack', didn't want to be near him.'Stop acting like a lonely dog!' He chastised himself. What was bothering him so much? His eyelids started to droop as boredom consumed his conscious being. There was something that...just...wasn't...right. And the hanyou's mind departed to the dream world of sleep. But his dream was not an enjoyable one.

Rocks bit into the flesh of his feet but left no marks. His vision was limited to about 30 yards in front of him on all sides. Cold fog was circling the small area which had been spared so far of the freezing mist. A figure swung around to face him with sad chocolate eyes.

"Ka-Kagome?" She stood about 10 yards away from him with mist curling around her feet. All she did was stare at him with an unchanging forlorn expression. "Wench did you hear me?" The miko sighed heavily but still wore the same dejected and downcast look. "Bitch are you listening to me?"  
He started to approach her but she shook her head, signaling that she didn't want him following. She turned and began to walk away from him, her figure already dissolving into the fog. The inu hanyou began to give chase but his path became blocked by a creature made entirely of icy fog. Sharp blue eyes were its only distinguishable feature. When Inuyasha tried to proceed the creature snarled viciously appearing to be guarding the girl from the half demon. All at once the beast disintegrated and the mist that made up its body swirled towards the quickly vanishing miko. The fog materialized into the appearance of a boy, who walked side by side with Kagome until they both disappeared.

Inuyasha awoke with the firm belief in his mind that he needed to see Kagome. His dream had been a little too real. The forest rushed by in a blur until the hanyou reached the Bone Eater's well. With the whole momentum of his run behind him the dog eared boy tossed himself into the well.

~ZAP~

Pink blasts of energy sent the half demon flying into the forest. A barrier had barred Inuyasha's only way to get back to Kagome. He recognized the spiritual aura radiating from the barrier. Only one person could have created it. Kagome. Which meant she was purposefully making sure he stayed away from her. 'She doesn't want me to come and get her.' His bangs covered his confused gold eyes. The dream had been right. She was leaving him and didn't want him to come after her. 'But,' the half demon thought, 'if that part of the dream was true than whom was it walking beside Kagome?'

Pietro

Grocery shopping proved to be quite the simple task with Kagome's help. Usually he wasn't the one in charge of getting food so finding his way through aisles upon aisles of food was very challenging. Kagome on the other hand knew the exact location of almost everything on the list his sister had sent him. It really pissed him off that his despotic sister thought she could make him do crap like this. She only wanted to get back at him for stealing the damned credit card. But, on the bright side this meant he had gotten to spend more time with Kagome.

Even though he had met the girl only a day ago the silver haired boy had grown to like her a lot. Since she had told him her life's story back at the coffee shop he had given an overture of his life while they were looking through the food. He told her that he was from America, hence his foreign name, but had come to Japan recently with his brothers and sister to go to a reform-school. This had earned an inquiring look Kagome. "We don't follow rules well," had been his explanation. The school didn't start its next term for close to six months so right now treating Japan like a vacation. His siblings were also a topic as well. He had twin brothers and a sister all older than him.

She had later wondered how he had learned the Japanese language so fast. An awkward question that had been easily avoided by answering obscurely, "Ah, those language teachers on the computer are better than they look."

Before long they had finished the actual shopping part, paid, and arrived where they were now, walking to Pietro's house. "Don't you need your motorcycle?"

"Nah, I can pick it up in one of the cars." 'Oh wait! Shit she wasn't supposed to hear that.' His thoughts stopped once he caught the dawning of realization appear on her face.

"You mean you could have picked me up in a car?" Fires of anger started to burn in her eyes.

"Yeah, technically, but the chopper's faster and its way easier to dodge things with."

The corners of her twitched a little bit, like the start of a smile. "Whatever." From the way she kept glaring daggers at the back of his head, he could make the assumption that she wasn't a fan of his crazy driving. Now they were approaching the huge apartment building that He had pointed out as his current home.

"No way! This place amazing!" She exclaimed when she pushed through the doors and into the lobby, there previous argument forgotten. It's true the building was pretty impressive, standing around sixty stories tall. The ceiling of the lobby was around forty feet high decorated with paints of every color. Plush, gold colored furniture was placed precisely throughout the room on glossy stone tile.

"Come on we better get to my family. It won't be long before they start breaking into the snack machines." Smiling at the thought of his kin smashing open vending machines with axes, he pressed the 58 in on the elevators list of numbers. They stepped through the automated doors each carrying four grocery bags. About a minute later the doors opened onto the floor and out came the miko and blue eyed boy.

"So which room is your family renting?" None of the doors on the floor had any numbers or markings.

Pietro let out a derisive snort, "Only one room? Hell no! We've got this whole floor." Almost instantly after the words left his mouth a voice from one of the rooms screamed, "Pietro's back!" This was followed by shouts of,

"Thank God he brought food!"

"That bastard better have brought salami."

And

"Who's out there with him?"

Something slammed into the door on his right while four voices began hyena-like laughter. He sighed and opened the door and studied his older brother who had his face pressed into the carpet and a group of cackling teenagers crowded around him. Kagome had started to begin a fit of giggling behind the slightly annoyed boy. Apparently one of them, an older boy with orange streaks in his hair, remembered the original mission and dove for the bags of food. The others caught on quickly and followed suit. All eight bags of food were snatched away from their grasps.

Kagome

Sitting in one of the many rooms of the floor, Kagome watched intently while Pietro's relatives ate various sandwich combinations. He was sitting next to her on one of three couches that made up the seating for the room. Excluding herself and Pietro, she counted two girls and three boys. She tried to guess who was an actual relative of Pietro. The obvious choice for the older sister was strikingly beautiful girl with snow-white hair, ghostly pale skin, and pinkish-red eyes. A true albino. Next were the brothers, another easy pick. Two boys who looked almost identical with their dark hair and facial structures. The only major difference between the two was the eye color. One boy had smoky, gray eyes while the other's eyes were so dark the color wasn't definite. She had no idea who the other two could be.

"So you gonna introduce us?" asked the boy with orange streaked hair between mouthfuls of his turkey sandwich. Pietro gave Kagome an apologetic smile and stood up with a sigh.

"Ok people this is Kagome and Kagome this is..." He pointed to the twins first, "Darius" indicating the gray eyed twin. "And Darren my twin brothers" So Darren was obviously the dark eyed twin. Both lifted their heads and gave the girl a smile in greeting. "Next we have my sister, Kalani, and her boyfriend, Asher but we call him Ash." Kalani waved and Ash gave her a salute. "And finally the girl sitting next to Darren is his girlfriend, Iris." Iris was thin and delicate with sparkling emerald eyes and long, black hair. The greedy way she was eating her food stopped briefly giving her enough time to give Kagome a welcoming smile.

"Okay now that we've all met each other I think we should get of here." The blue eyed boy grabbed her wrist and began dragging her off of the couch.

She gave the boy a pleading pout, "But we just got here! Your family seems so nice!"

All of Pietro's resolve melted at the sight of the face she was giving him. When it came to girls, puppy dog eyes were his greatest weakness. "Okay but we won't stay for more than an hour..."

Five hours later, after a marathon of every Wii game imaginable, six tired figures were watching a random sad/romance flick on a flat screen T.V. Darius had left the moment someone suggested watching the movie saying "No way in hell am I going to be forced to watch another one of your boring, feel good movies again, Iris." Now each couch held one couple, who were viewing the movie in silence. In very little time Kagome and Pietro were the only two left awake.

"Hey Kagome?" Pietro addressed the miko who had started to snuggle against him for warmth.

"Yeah?" She responded, the sleep heavy in her voice.

"Remember how you said you aren't going to return the feudal era? Well, I think you should go back." He waited for the girl's reaction.

Kagome thought about this in her half-asleep stupor. "I do miss my friends, but how can I go back...after everything he's done to me." Old pain returned to her voice when thinking of all the times Inuyasha had let her down.

"What if I came with you?" Blue eyes eagerly watched to see how she would respond to his question.

"That'd be good." She said, her eyes closing, drifting farther into sleep. Picking her up gently he heard her speak again. "But Pietro? If we go back there...would you protect me?"

"Yeah I'd protect you" He began to walk out of the room with her in his arms.

"Promise?" Barely awake now it was amazing she could process what was happening.

"Promise." After that last word she fell asleep with a smile on her lips. "Goodnight. I'll take you home."

A/N: Finally I'm done with this chapter! It was not very fun to write. I'm hoping the next chapter will be better with a lot less fluff. I think I'll have them go back to the feudal era. But I'm going on vacation so I won't be able to work on it very much until I get back. Review!


	4. Burning the Bridge

Chapter 4: Burning the Bridge

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Surprise!

A/N: Sorry I took so long to update! I had a lot of school work to catch up on after vacation so I didn't have much time to work on this. I'll try and be faster for the next chapter! Oh and before I forget...Review!!!!

Kagome

Sunlight filtered through the window of the mainly pink room. Furniture and fabric alike were set a glow by the early morning sunrise. One stubborn young girl slept in a deep sleep that not even the bright daylight could shatter. An enormously fat cat waddled into the room. He hopped up quietly onto the pink bedspread with some difficultly thanks to his heavy lower half. After some scrabbling for a claw hold the cat managed to achieve its goal. Making sure he was placed perfectly in front of the girl's ear, he opened his mouth slowly. Two more precious moments of sleep and then,

"MROWW!"

Chocolate brown eyes opened in terrified shock until coming to rest on the feline face inches from her nose.

"Buyo! I was sleeping!"

With surprising agility the cat hopped off of her bed and landed neatly on all four paws. A pillow was launched through the air heading straight for Buyo...or where Buyo had been. The obese cat had hightailed it out of the room before the soft object had even gone airborne. Thump! Feathers flew through the air after the pillow hit the door causing it to slam shut. Kagome sighed and fell back into her blankets. Events from the evening before played in her head. The last thing she recalled from the previous night was making Pietro promise her something. 'What did I ask him?' She pondered over her recollections of the night before. 'I told him that I would go back to the feudal era...with him......and then he promised me...oh right!' It had taken a moment but she reminisce his promise to protect her. 'But how will he protect me from demons, Naraku, and even Inuyasha? He's only human.' The miko's brief questioning of the possibility that the blue eyed boy could keep his promise was interrupted by her mother.

"Kagome? Are you up there? What was that noise?"

"Don't worry Mom! Buyo just scared me!" She yelled down to her mother and got up at a leisurely pace. Sighing sadly, she approached the drawer that contained her uniform. 'Just one more day knowing Inuyasha doesn't care about me,' With some tugging she managed to get the red cloth around her neck properly, 'and now it's even worse. I promised to go back to feudal Japan! I hate having important conversations when I'm half asleep!' Facing Inuyasha again would be hard enough but the arrival of Pietro would get some negative results from the possessive hanyou.

That still puzzled her, how Inuyasha would go insane with rage every time someone of the opposite  
sex came on to her. At first she considered that he was jealous but he had recently proved his feelings for her were nothing of the sort. A more likely cause for his protective outbursts was for the safety of his precious jewel detector. Whatever his reasons, it would be an interesting situation when she returned to the feudal era with a human boy. Many sits would be required to restrain Inuyasha from inflicting damage upon her soon-to be time traveling companion.

'Hopefully we won't be going back any time soon.' After brushing through her hair and smoothing out her shirt she headed downstairs for breakfast. She was greeted by three odd looks from her small family.

"Is there something wrong with my clothes? Or my hair?" Nothing appeared to be out of order with the green and white uniform and she had just seen her hair in the mirror.

"Kagome how did you get the house last night? All the doors were locked." Ms. Higurashi gave her daughter a confused stare and thinking of a possible explanation added another question, "Did Inuyasha bring you home?"

"If Inuyasha was bringing me anywhere, he would be dragging back to the feudal era." Kagome crossed her arms and looked away from her mother, "And what do you mean how did I get in the house?"

Sota tried to clear up some of his sister's obvious confusion, "Sis, you never came home yesterday. We never saw you after you left with your new friend."

"Oh right...." A slight blush appeared on Kagome's pale face. "Umm...I figured he had...I don't really know, maybe you guys didn't lock all of the doors..." Not one member of the Higurashi household was convinced by her guess, even Kagome herself, but, at the moment, it was the only rational explanation.

A quick glance at her watch showed that the time for her and Sota to be on their way to school had passed unnoticed. Sota seemed to realize this at the same time as his sister and began to shovel cereal into his mouth. Kagome grabbed a wrapped granola bar off the counter and then tore off its shiny covering. She took massive bites out of the tasteless alternative to a delicious breakfast while Sota scrambled for his backpack. Both shot out the door of their home, gasping good-byes to their grandpa and mother. Once at the bottom of the shrine's ridiculously long staircase brother and sister parted ways, each heading towards a different school.

She skidded to a stop at the junior high's concrete campus. As usual she was greeted by the three surprised faces of Eri, Ayumi, and Yuki. "Kagome?!?" They all squealed in surprised joy.

"We're so glad you've recovered from your dermatomyositis." Eri exclaimed happily. 'Where does grandpa come up with this stuff? And how the hell did people still believe it?' She wondered while smiling at the sheer bubbliest of her friend's attitude. After each had expressed their delight for their frequently sick friend's return they began to jabber about the latest gossip of the school. Kagome was successfully tuning them out until Yuki asked her the question she had been dreading.

"So Kagome what's the latest on your delinquent boyfriend?" The three schoolgirls waited in excited silence for her answer. All three noticed the instant darkening of Kagome's sunshiny mood. Eri put a comforting hand on the young girl's shoulder.

"Oh no, he isn't two timing you again, is he?" They crowded around and awaited the latest drama on Kagome's bad boy boyfriend. She sighed and tried to think of an explanation for her situation with Inuyasha.

"He's made it pretty obvious that his ex means more to him than I ever will so...I left him." The miko said with little emotion, hoping to drop the subject. Unfortunately, with gossip hounds like her friends, that would have been way too easy.

"Wow, he sounds like he was a real jerk! I'm glad that you got him out of your life." Yuki said, proud that her friend had been able to walk away from the cruel bad boy. Ayumi and Eri each gave Kagome a consoling hug.

"Now you can focus other guys, Kagome!" Eri grinned, as if already planning the dates she could set up for her newly single friend.

"Like Hojo!" Yuki stated with excitement, thinking that, now the helpful boy could actually get a decent chance with Kagome. They each started giving tips on how to move on from ex-boyfriends and the best ways to get back into the dating life. Tears threatened to form in the miko's mocha eyes. It hurt to think about moving on from Inuyasha with such little time to overcome the heartbreak she had felt when he kissed Kikyo. Her friends didn't seem to catch on to her depressed discomfort. Of course, Hojo picked that inopportune moment to approach the four teenage girls.

"Kagome! Your back!" The school boy gave her a warm smile. "I brought this great cream for your dermatomyositis. It's great for all kinds of skin problems." Hojo, still smiling, handed her a small orange bottle that supposedly held the skin cream.

"Thanks Hojo." She choked out through a tiny sob. The tears she could fight off but she wasn't able to drain the sadness from her voice.

"What's wrong Kagome?" Her eyes focused on the ground while she gathered her emotions together. When she looked up a blatantly fake smile was plastered on her face. She opened her arms and gathered all of her friends, including Hojo, into a hug.

"I'm just so glad that I have such great friends! You guys are way too nice to me!" Oblivious to the forced way she was smiling, Hojo happily returned the hug. The three girls who also shared in the hug easily saw through her facade. One thought ran across the sympathetic minds of Yuki, Eri, and Ayumi. 'She REALLY doesn't want to talk about her ex."

Kagome finally released the three girls and Hojo from her vise-like embrace. Still creepily smiling and with a pained look in her eyes, she prayed for the bell to signal the start of school to ring. In an attempt to change the subject, Ayumi decided to share a rumor she had heard earlier.

"Guess what?" Four pairs of eyes stared at Ayumi questioningly. "I heard we're getting four new students today."

"This is a weird time of the year to be getting new enrollments..." Hojo mused, "But it'll be cool to see some new faces."

"Yeah, I hope they're nice." Ayumi said, ever the peacekeeper.

"I hope some of 'em are boys and cute." Yuki smirked mischievously.

"I hope some of them are cute, single boys." Eri glanced at Kagome who had yet to express her hopes for the new students. "What about you, Kagome?"

"I hope-" Before Kagome could finish her wish for the new additions to her student body, she was interrupted by the noise of the school bell. Everyone outside of the school rushed inside, fearful that they would be reprimanded for tardiness.

Classes went by in a mad blur of numbers, words, and textbooks. Notes were obtained from kind classmates but, she was still unable to keep up with what the teacher was saying. The fabled new students had not yet been sighted by even the most determined of gossipmongers. People were starting to say that it was nothing but a rumor but others insisted their arrival was imminent. Any thoughts of new students were banished from her mind once she got lost in mountains of work she had accumulated. Before long it was lunchtime and she was glad for her brief break from the impossible tasks the teachers were asking of her. Kagome grabbed the bag containing her lunch from her locker and joined Eri, Ayumi, Hojo and Yuki at a lunch table.

"No news of our mysterious new classmates?" Kagome asked her little circle of friends.

"Nothing! Everybody says that they were just a rumor after all..." All five teenagers sighed in disappointment and began eating their lunches. Suddenly a loud BANG resounded through the cafeteria.

Heads turned as the green doors that led into the lunchroom swung back into the walls. Four figures stood in the doorway, appearances hidden by the glare of the outdoor light. A dark haired girl and two almost identical twins stepped out, dragging a fourth member behind them.

"It's your damn fault that we're here so cooperate!" Green eyes, belonging to the girl, flashed dangerously as she reprimanded her companion. She stepped away from the boy who was the object of her reproach. The twins behind her grinned and pushed him into the lunchroom. A grumbling silver haired boy stumbled into the room, glared at his brothers for siding with Iris, and shot a somewhat hateful glare at the cafeteria in general.

Kagome choked briefly on her food when she recognized the silver haired boy as Pietro. Hadn't he said that he was attending boarding school in six months? She managed to swallow the half-chewed in her mouth. So far, she had escaped his line of vision. Lowering her head and turning her body in a different direction then he was facing was her brilliant evasive tactic. Hopefully it would last until the end of lunch.

"Looks like I got my wish." Yuki whispered into Eri's ear. Both girls giggled and closely watched the other three come further into the lunch room. Darren and Darius followed Pietro with Iris trailing behind them. None of the three boys were escaping the attention of the numerous school girls. Iris was leaving a trail of gawking boys in her unflinching path. Hojo was the only male to ignore the enchanting girl and instead took the opportunity to stare lovingly at Kagome's slumped figure.

"Yeah and at least two of them are single." Eri whispered back, indicating Darius and Pietro. Iris and Darren were now holding hands, Iris staring daggers at any girl giving Darren lustful glances and Darren doing likewise for the wistful looks boys were giving Iris. Darius kept moving forward with minimal interest in the scrutiny he was receiving from the females of the junior high. Pietro kept his icy gaze focused on the tiled floor, ignoring any and all stares or whispers directed at him.

Kagome quickly decided she wasn't in the mood for extra attention that day. Between Eri and Yuki, the rumors that could start if the hot newcomers singled out her were innumerable. The tricky part of this plan would be escaping the notice of all four of them. Iris, Darren, and Darius might not recognize her among the large student body. Pietro would be the one to avoid, he had known her longer. 'Just keep your head down.' Her inner voice whispered, 'You can talk to him after school when your friend's aren't around.'

"Kagome?" Ayumi gave the girl an inquiring look but her frequently sick friend seemed to be deep in thought. "What's wrong Kagome?"

Eri and Yuki tore their gazes from the young foursome and started poking the thoughtful miko. "Kagome? Kagome!" The two girls yelled their friend's name who promptly snapped out of her brooding. She tried to the cover the mouths of her loud friends but it was already too late. At the sound of her name two blue eyes found her frantic figure. Separating from his brothers and Iris, he started out towards Kagome's lunch table.

"Is he coming over here?" Wondered the curly haired Ayumi. Eri and Yuki's eyes widened and both struggled to speak through the hand clasped over each of their mouths.

"Looks like it. I wonder why..." Hojo watched the mixed reactions of anger and surprise play out on Kagome's face. She removed her hands from her gasping friend's mouths and attempted to stare down the approaching silver haired boy. He smirked and slowly shook his head.

"He's looking straight at you, Kagome!" Eri practically squealed. Pietro, now considerably close to the table, winced in pain at the high-pitched noise. 'Kind of weird,' Kagome thought, 'Eri wasn't painfully high pitched.'

"Do you know him, Kagome?" Yuki whispered but got no response from her bristling friend. He stood over the young miko, blue eyes gleaming with mischief.

Sliding in next to her, he shot the angry girl a wicked smile, "Hey baby, did ya miss me?"

Ah yes. It was just her luck that he would say something stupid and somewhat suggestive right in front of her loudmouthed friends. Now she would suffer from endless questioning from Ayumi, Yuki, and Eri.

So why did her heart flutter when he said it?

Inuyasha

She had blocked the well. She had fucking blocked the fucking well. Could she really not stand being around him that much? Was she ever going to be coming back?

His ears drooped at the thought of the young miko never returning. No more warm brown eyes that tried so hard to comfort him. Never again would she hug him after he returned to her from a particularly vicious fight. Petty arguments between them would be a thing of the past. Hell, he would even miss the painful sits. Well...maybe he could live without the sits.

It had only been three days since Kagome had left. And now, with the well blocked, it was possible she might never return. A pink barrier had appeared in the center in of the well, preventing any attempt to pass through it. Occasionally white streaks shot up through the pink, swirling into the open sky.

Kaede had told him that Kagome might have blocked the well unconsciously. No one had ever seen Kagome create a barrier so it was entirely possible. When it came to control of her spiritual powers, the girl was generally lacking. Her anger towards him could have told her subconscious to create the barrier. It might not have been her true intention but, the desire to not see the dog boy would have been strong in her mind.

Another possibility was that Kagome's powers were being manipulated by someone else without her knowledge. The white streaks did not carry Kagome's spiritual signature or the signature of any miko the old priestess had encountered.

Inuyasha was still pretty convinced the young girl just didn't want him to go after her. She probably hated him. The insults he threw at her must have caused the emotional teenager to snap. Finally, she must have solved her problem of the worthless half demon by going home and sealing the well.

Ever since he had informed his comrades of his inability to pass through the well, they had been acting very strange. Shippo and Miruko kept grinning at him like they knew something he didn't. Sango always looked very conflicted and it seemed like she was doing her best to avoid him. Any questioning of the weird behavior resulted in a "Whatever are you talking about, Inuyasha?" from Miroku. Innocent little Shippo always responded with big eyes and claims that Inuyasha shouldn't tell people their acting weird and that Kagome would think it was rude. The demon slayer just made hurried excuses and left the vicinity on Kirara before answering anything. Even Kaede seemed to be in on their little secret! When he had asked her if she knew what the monk, kitsune, and demon slayer knew that he didn't, all she had said was, "Ye should be kinder to Kagome, ungrateful dog. If ye weren't so senseless she would not have returned to her own time. One must wonder what she gets up too when ye can't watch her."

What the hell was that supposed to mean? It didn't answer his question, in fact, it only gave him more! Had Kagome come back from her time when he wasn't around? Could she have gotten to talk to Miruko, Shippo, Sango, or Kaede right under his nose? Impossible! He would have been able to smell her the minute she returned to his era. Besides, he had barely left the well's edge since her departure...

Stupid well. Why had the damn thing allowed her to block its mouth? The half demon got down on his knees and stared into the bright pink light of Kagome's spiritual power.

"Please," he whispered softly to the barrier, "Please go away. I want to bring Kagome back. She belongs here." The barrier did not react to his desperate plea. Shining back at him with a glare of taunting light.

"Talking to inanimate objects, Inuyasha? Or are you just worrying about Kagome?" The purple clad monk kneeled down next to his hanyou friend. A fading, red hand-shaped mark covered the left half of the lecherous man's face. Obviously, Sango wasn't in a good mood. Inuyasha feh'd and tossed his gaze in the opposite direction so he wouldn't have to look at the monk.

Dog ears twitching angrily, the half demon growled at Miruko. "Why should I answer you? You haven't answered me honestly for the past few days!"

"Whatever do you mean, Inuyasha?"

"That! That right there is exactly what I'm talking about! You know exactly what I mean. All of you know what I mean!" The dog boy got to his feet and glared at the lying monk.

Miruko sighed and started backing away from his infuriated friend. This situation would have to be dealt with very carefully. "You are right, Inuyasha. I, Sango, and Shippo, have not been completely honest with you."

"Damn straight. Care to tell what you all have been hiding?" Five claws flexed out and showed off their dagger like sharpness, showing Miruko the consequences of an incorrect response.

"That is the only problem, you see. We believe Lady Kagome can explain certain events herself, if she so chooses, when she returns. We do not know the details so we believe it wouldn't be fair to her." Miroku was now at least ten feet away from the aggravated hanyou.

Golden eyes narrowed and lips curled back, revealing twin, gleaming fangs. "Are you sure that's the smartest answer Miroku? You don't want to elaborate 'certain events' yourself?" Claws snapped out threateningly. "What were you planning to do if she didn't come back?"

Miruko held out his staff defensively and chuckled at the hanyou's lack of faith, "Don't worry Inuyasha, she'll come back."

"Yeah, right, whatever." Inuyasha murmured in a despondent tone. What had Kagome done that his friends didn't want him to know about? He was going to know one way or another. Looking up, he saw a purple figure in the distance, running blindly into the camouflage of lofty trees. 'That head start won't get you anywhere.' thought the hanyou with a grim smile. He leapt after the terrified monk, in hope to cheerfully beat the required information out of his uncooperative friend.

Kagome

Some shock was imminent on the four faces of Hojo, Ayumi, Eri, and Yuki. Kagome gave the boy sitting next to her a begrudging smile. He would have figured out they were in the same school eventually, so why not get it over with.

"Eri, Yuki, Ayumi, and Hojo meet Pietro. Pietro meet Eri, Yuki, Ayumi, and Hojo." She pointed out each of her friends when saying their name. It looked like her four friends were still speechless so she decided to make a few things clear.

"I met Pietro a couple days ago at...err...the shrine when he helped me with my hurt ankle. He is in no way entitled to be calling me 'baby.' This earned a mock hurt look from the blue eyed boy.

"But Kagome! You said you wanted me to protect you! I think I'm perfectly enti-" she cut him off mid sentence with a slap to his arm. Her friends wouldn't understand her asking of him to protect her and she didn't need a fierce interrogation. The slightly facetious tone he was using didn't sit well with her either.

"Enough of the sarcasm alright? What are you even doing here?"

A little spark of anger ignited in his icy eyes. "This is what happens to a great vacation when Mom finds out I've been driving without a license. With this school being so close she had the perfect opportunity for punishment. And of course they," He jerked his head towards his siblings and Iris, "are pissed at me because they had to come too. Iris' parents totally agreed with the idea so she was forced to come along. A few phone calls later and we're enrolled here."

"Wait. Did you say you've been driving without a license?!?" A murderous look took hold of the miko's facial features.

Sheepishly grinning, he carefully answered, "Yes but it's not like I don't know how to drive or anything. My dad taught me how to handle a motorcycle last year so I've had plenty of practice. I used to drive it all the time back in America..." This explanation did not satisfy Kagome in the least. Her face was beginning to turn an angry red color.

"Are you kidding me? You drive like a maniac! We could have been arrested! It's amazing no cop saw us! It's a good thing we walked back to your house! I just can't believe you took me out when you don't even have a license!"

Eri snapped out of her rare speechless state and slammed her hands on the table, "Let me get this straight! You," she pointed at Kagome, "met him," then at Pietro, "when you hurt your ankle at your house. And he has a motorcycle that you actually had the guts to get on to go somewhere with him. But, he was driving without a license so now he's here?"

Both silver haired boy and dark haired miko nodded in response while Kagome continued to give Pietro chilling looks.

"Kagome, how could you do something so reckless? Motorcycles are dangerous; you could have been in an accident, especially with an unlicensed driver at the wheel." A concerned Hojo gave her, the girl he'd been chasing after in vain for years, a stern look.

Pietro rolled his eyes, "We're still alive aren't we? That must prove I have some driving ability!" His initial dislike for the boy scolding Kagome grew stronger. It didn't please him to see her getting admonished for deciding to trust him.

"Yeah but, still...a lot of bad things could have happened." Some of the anger had left her voice. "If you hadn't been paying attention, for even a second, we would have-"

"Been fine. We would have been fine. I guarantee it. Look, I'm already hated by my whole family for this so can we just forget about it?" Blue eyes pleaded for her to drop the subject.

Though she didn't totally forgive him, she didn't argue with him on the subject any further. A slightly awkward silence subsequently followed the end to their argument. "Why don't you have anything to eat?" Ayumi asked, noticing the new member of their table's lack of food.

"We ate before we came here." The "we" being Darren, Darius, Iris, and himself. He glanced back at his brothers and brother's girlfriend. They had found a table near the windows of the lunchroom. Three glowers were being aimed in his direction. Iris was motioning for him to join them. From the frightening look she was giving him, he could tell she wasn't asking, she was ordering.

"Looks like I'll be going now. The royal bitch is calling me back. See you after school, Kagome." Giving a final wave to his new acquaintances, also known as Hojo, Ayumi, Yuki, and Eri.

Yuki spoke for the first time after he had gone, "Awl...Kagome that was so cute."

"What the hell are you talking about? He freaking admitted that he took me out on a motorcycle when he doesn't have a license! What is cute about that?" Either Yuki had a much skewed few of reality or Kagome had just misheard everything he said. A crazy hunch told her it was the first option.

"Yeah, but you said he helped you when you were hurt. And then he picked you up for a date on a motorcycle, even if he wasn't legally allowed to drive it. I even thought I heard you say that you went back to his house. It's just kind of cute, you know? Especially since this happened right after your break-up."

"What break-up?" asked Hojo.

All four girls had forgotten the brown haired boy was even there. "Oh nothing, Hojo. This is kind of a girl to girl conversation, so can you go hang with some of your guy friends? You wouldn't understand all of this anyway." Eri grabbed Hojo's arm and hoisted him up from his seat. She gave him a small shove in the direction of another table. "Bye!"

"It was not a date! We went to get coffee!" Kagome retorted, getting back to the main topic.

"Sounds like a date to me." Eri replied. "Face it Kagome, you're in denial. You just don't want to get in a new relationship since you got your heart broken thanks to your two-timing, jerk of an ex-boyfriend."

"That's not true! Pietro and I are just friends! Nothing more!" Really, another dispute about something pointless like this was not what she needed.

"Whatever you say, Kagome..." Yuki trailed off as the bell ending lunch rang out loud and clear. Kagome picked up the remains of her lunch and stormed out of the cafeteria. Back in the hallways, she quickly lost her thoughts to math problems and science experiments.

OXoxAfter SchoolxoXO

School was becoming unbearably difficult with all the class she had missed. Maybe if she was lucky, she wouldn't have to go back to the feudal era for a couple of weeks. Halfway home, a voice called out from behind her.

"Hey Kagome! Wait up!"

Pietro came up incredibly fast from behind her. After a few seconds of jogging in front of her, he slowed his pace down to match hers.

"I know your mad but be honest, is riding a motorcycle with an unlicensed driver the most dangerous thing you've ever done?" The only sign she gave that she had heard him was a quick, frigid glare. Truthfully though, in the past year she had dealt with things much more dangerous than motorcycles and less than fully trained drivers. And by getting him involved in her life would put her human friend in unknown amounts of danger. She would probably get revenge within one week in the feudal era. Despite these thoughts, Kagome's chilly leering didn't let up.

"Still haven't totally forgiven me?" He laughed dryly, "Go ahead, keep it up. My sister's the Ice Queen of glacial looks and cold shoulders."

Kagome giggled slightly at the irony of his comparison, "Nice nickname for the albino sister."

"Oh yes, I've come up with hundreds. A few of them have backfired on me though, since I'm part albino." His silvery hair was the only sign of his partial albinism. She had almost forgotten the coloring was irregular, she had gotten used to it since she was around Inuyasha so much.

"Hey, where's the rest of your group?" So far, she had seen no signs of the three others who had earlier accompanied Pietro.

"Ah, part of my punishment. Kalani and Ash pick up the others while I have to walk home. Thank God, in three months those bastards won't be able to control me anymore."

"What happens in three months?"

"My birthday. I won't be treated like such a little kid anymore."

"That's why I love being oldest." Having only a little brother, Kagome had never been treated like the baby of the family.

"You're lucky. Now, I'm stuck with two of my brothers in school."

"Why are your brothers and Iris even going to junior high? Aren't they older than you?" The first time she met Kalani and Ash she guessed they were older by a few years. It had been her assumption that the remaining three were older by a year or two.

"Iris isn't which means Darren wants to stay with her and Darius doesn't want to go to high school by himself. So those two came along to repeat a year of junior high."

"Wow, he must really love her," The young miko looked down the streets wistfully. Why couldn't Inuyasha care for her that much?

Soon they were at the foot of the many stairs leading up into Kagome's home. "Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She smiled brightly, glad that he hadn't mentioned going back to the feudal era.

He gave her a mock salute and watched her begin the long and extensive climb up her staircase. Only when she had turned her back to him did she remember the mystery of how he had gotten into her house the night before. She spun around and opened her mouth to speak...but he was already gone.

OXoxThree Weeks LaterxoXO

21 days went by with little trouble and no thoughts of returning to the feudal era. Walking home with him everyday proved to be enjoyable and she began alternating where she sat at lunch between her usual table and Pietro's table. Every day she got closer to the blue eyed boy who had gotten a pretty bad first impression of her. The constant updates her friends required were part of the downside. So far, she had stuck to the story that they were just friends. Which was true. Mostly. At least, nothing had happened to suggest otherwise.

Another problem in her relaxing stay in the modern era was her family. Almost every day Sota would ask her why she was still in her own time. It was true that it was abnormal for her to be in the modern age for more than three days but his persistence was still irking. She answered him with shrugs and incoherent mumbles. Ever since the first day Kagome's strange new friend came to the door, Ms. Higurashi had kept a close watch on her daughter but seeing as she seemed happy, there was no reason to dig to deeply into the girl's reasons for leaving the feudal era.

Being without Inuyasha for so long was hard on the young miko but not unendurably so. She thought about him often and occasionally memories of him with Kikyo would bring tears to her eyes. And with each day that passed, the dog boy's betrayal hurt less and less. Though her friends from the feudal era never stayed out of her mind for long she began growing comfortable in her normal life. It was almost like she was hoping Pietro would forget about ever going 500 years into the past. He didn't.

On one unfortunate day when they parted ways at the shrine's steps he pulled her aside and whispered, "And Kagome? Don't think I've forgotten. We're leaving at 6." His message wasn't totally clear but she caught onto the meaning. Her peaceful vacation in the modern age was ending. The time had come to face her friends and Inuyasha. It still hurt to think about him but this hurt was nowhere near as bad as it had been before.

Where was he? It was the time he had requested. The young priestess was tapping her foot impatiently on the wood floor of the well house. She checked her watch for the fifth time in the last 10 minutes. 6:15. No sign of him. "If I have to wait one more minute, I swear I'll-"

"You swear you'll do what?" She jumped and spun around to meet the amused gaze of the boy behind her.

How'd he sneak up behind her? He'd have to walk like a cat to achieve such silent treading. It was somewhat unnerving that he was capable of creeping up on her like that...

"Never mind. Come on we'd better get going." The darkness of the cavernous well loomed in front of her. It would have scary jumping into it if she hadn't done it so many times before.

"You sound excited." Sarcasm was laced into his insightful comment. He hopped down the first few stairs leading to the well. "Don't you want to see your friends from the past?"

"Some of them."

His expression softened at the sorrowful look in her eyes. Remembering her apparently unrequited love for the half demon called Inuyasha, he knew to be careful on this particular subject. "Don't worry, Kagome. I'm sure going back won't be that bad. Did you tell your family that you're leaving?"

"Yup. Yours?" She didn't acknowledge his claim that everything would be okay. He hadn't experienced the nightmares that lived on the other side of the well. Stepping all the way to the edge of the well, she awaited his reply.

"Yeah but, aren't people going to think it's weird that we'll both be gone at the same time?"

"Maybe. People might just think we've got the same disease. We can deal with the consequences next time we come back." 'If we come back...' Kagome added in her head. There was always the possibility that someone wouldn't return from one of the many battles they fought.

"I'm sure that'll be fun. Well, if both our families know, than I guess we can go."

"Great, then let's get this over with. You can go first." If Inuyasha had decided to bring Kikyo into the group, she could have blocked the well so, it would be in her best interest to let a test subject try it out before her. Right next to her was someone to send in first, there would be no risk of her getting hurt.

"Not likely. Remember ladies first!" With a dark laugh he pushed the startled girl into the well's black abyss. His laughter turned into a horrified gasp when she grabbed his arm and he went tumbling in after her.

Bright colors flashed, signaling their entrance into the gravity deprived portal to feudal Japan. In a bright display of pink and white the ground solidified beneath them and they came crashing into the dirt floor.

"You didn't have to push me!" Kagome stood up shakily. After only three weeks, she had totally forgotten the weird sensation of time traveling.

"You have those jewel shards or whatever so it's not like it wouldn't let you through." He stated simply.

"Humph. Why are you even able to come through the well?" No one but her and Inuyasha could pass through the well, so why could he?

"No idea." 'A lie,' Pietro thought, 'But what she doesn't know can't hurt her...not right now anyway.'

"Whatever. Let's get out of here." Ivy climbed up the sides of the ancient well and served as their ladder out of the demonic resting place. Having reached the top before her, the blue eyed boy grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her out of the well. Along with the young girl he grabbed her enormous yellow bag and tossed it out of the well. He set her down gently next to him.

"I could have gotten out by myself." She said, insulted that he doubted her strength.

"Yeah, yeah sure you could of. I'm just being helpful. That backpack looked like it was making it hard on you."

"Well, I guess I have to thank you for that." The miko leaned up on the tips of her toes and gave him a grateful kiss on the cheek. At the moment, it didn't mean much to the two friends. But it meant a lot to the overly possessive hanyou concealed within the foliage of the forest trees.

Inuyasha (Several Minutes Earlier)

It was somewhat entertaining watching the sureness of her return fade in his friends. Not that he was happy they were wrong. Far from it.

Three weeks had passed with no sign of the miko from the future. There had been no change in the barrier guarding the well. Every day he tried to break it but, it was indestructible. Any and all attempts to pass through it were rewarded with intense pain. Her absence had hit the whole group pretty hard. Miroku was probably the least effected and had lost some of his usual sense of humor since the young priestess had left but his daily lechery continued none the less. The monk was still clinging onto the belief that Kagome would eventually return. Sango's tolerance of Miruko's perverted ways was at a zero without her friend to vent with. Before long the monk would have a permanent crimson handprint on his face. Shippo seemed to blame himself for the whole thing and was frequently crying himself to sleep.

Inuyasha was surprised the kitsune wasn't blaming him for Kagome's leaving. Usually, anytime Kagome was angry, sad, or hurt, it was immediately his doing. This, on most occasions, was true. This time had been no different; he had driven Kagome away with his cruel words and his visits with Kikyo.

'She's never coming back and it's all my fault.' The hanyou thought regretfully. Sure, she had promised to stay by his side but, how could he hold her to that promise after what he had said to Kikyo? 'At least she's safer back in her own time.' As long as he knew she was safe, maybe he could accept her departure. But, the truth was, he didn't know she was safe. What if the reason she hadn't returned was because there had been an accident in her own time? One of the metal demons that raced up and down those things she called 'streets' could have attacked her! Horrible scenarios of her death by modern demons ran through his head. And in every one, he couldn't get to her because of the damned well!

Now, he really hoped she would come back to him. At least, in his time, he could protect her from any murderous demons.

Without the miko's jewel sensing abilities, the hunt for Naraku had come to a standstill. There had been no attempts from the forlorn Inuyasha to resume the search either. Demon fighting in general hadn't been too eventful for the past three weeks. A few unlucky weaker demons happened to cross the dog boy's path but, they were barely worth the three minutes it took to kill them. Luckily, no strong youkai challenged the group during their stay in the village. Inuyasha wasn't in top fighting position without someone to defend.

Even Kagome's scent was beginning to fade from Kaede's hut. In no time at all there would be no evidence of her once frequent presence in the small village.

His silver head rested against a tree's hard trunk. The thoughts of the young priestess were putting him in an even worse mood than usual. Eyelids closed tightly over amber orbs while the hanyou tried to clear his mind. A breeze swept through the air, playfully tossing his silver hair around. With the cooling sensation of the wind and the sweet aroma of her that it carried, the dog eared boy began to fall asleep.

Wait. Her sweet aroma? No it couldn't be...But it was. Excitement filled his eyes and his face resembled that of a dog just learning of its master's arrival. (A/N: I love when my dog gets that look on her face! It's so adorable!)Dropping down from his tree, the boy flew at top speed to the Bone Eater's well. Just when he was about to break through the forest surrounding the meadow containing the well, he caught the scent of another. Inuyasha jumped into the upper branches of a nearby tree with a good vantage point and a covering of leaves.

Instead of Kagome emerging from the well, a silver haired boy climbed out. The boy reached down into the well and came back up with Kagome and her giant yellow bag in his grasps.

Inuyasha's claws cut deeply into the rough bark of the tree. It did not please him in the least to see someone else holding Kagome.

The silver haired boy who did not have dog ears set the miko down smoothly in the soft green grass. She gave him a somewhat insulted look and said, "I could have gotten out by myself."

'Feisty as ever,' thought a pleased Inuyasha, glad that she wasn't giving the boy any special treatment.

"Yeah, yeah sure you could of. I'm just being helpful. That backpack looked like it was making it hard on you." The boy replied, giving her an amused smile.

"Well, I guess I have to thank you for that." She got up on her tip toes and leaned in closer to the boy.

'What is she doing?' The hanyou growled as the distance between the priestess and the grinning boy rapidly disappeared, 'She's not going to kiss...' Fury lit up the half demon's eyes when he saw Kagome plant a light kiss on the boy's cheek. 'What the fuck? I save her from countless bloodthirsty demons and the most I ever get is a hug, and that's usually only when she thinks I'm dead! And this guy gets a kiss just for helping her out of the well!' Emotions of hurt and sorrow bubbled up into his senses but, mostly, he felt intense anger at the sight of his jewel detector, his miko, his Kagome expressing affection towards this boy.

The hanyou snarled hatefully and got into a pouncing position, causing the branch to creak slightly. The barely audible noise got a reaction from the boy below whose icy gaze stopped the hanyou in his tracks. Inuyasha vaguely recalled the particular blue stare...as if from a dream...or a nightmare.

'Nightmare or not there's no chance in hell I'm going to allow this bastard to steal my Kagome.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Yay! Finished with Chapter 4! I had to speed things up a bit with the time jump because I wanted to get back to the feudal era.  
Once again, I'm sorry this took awhile. When I was halfway through writing this chapter it got deleted. Damn IPod.  
I'll have the next chapter up as soon as possible but, school and stuff might delay me a bit. Don't forget to review! 


	5. FireProof

Chapter 5: Fire-Proof

Don't  
Imagine  
Skittle Dog  
Could  
Lay  
Assertion to  
Inuyasha which belongs to and was  
Made  
Entirely by  
Rumiko Takahashi

A/N: Acrostic Poetry

Hellz Yeah!

Kagome

"I suggest you move, Kagome." Pietro seemed to be focused on something behind her.

"Why?" Trees were the only notable danger in the background but none were bursting into flames or falling.

"Too slow." He sighed and grabbed her by the shoulders. Rather forcefully, he started dragging her away from the well.

"Hey! What are you doing?" She struggled out of the boy's hold and backed away from him.

"Just getting ya out of danger, princess."

"What danger?" Confusion filled her gaze as he pointed towards the well. Seconds later a figure clothed in red dropped out of the sky and landed directly where they had just been standing. Inuyasha growled threateningly at the blue eyed boy standing next to Kagome. Emotions of unbridled fury flowed freely off the jealous half demon.

"Get the hell away from Kagome!" The snarling hanyou's claws snapped out further.

"Ah, this must be the infamous Inuyasha." Pietro smirked, showing no signs of fear.

'Either he doesn't realize Inuyasha can kill him or Pietro thinks he could fight off Inuyasha.' Kagome thought, eyes darting between the two silver haired boys. Inuyasha gave her a perplexed look when hearing the word infamous.

"Infamous? What the hell does that mean?"

"It means being known for doing bad things." It surprised her somewhat, that Pietro regarded Inuyasha as infamous but, she figured, her crying and tales of Inuyasha's lies must have convinced him that whatever the dog boy did was considered infamous. 'And he doesn't even know about the time I almost hurt myself because of Inuyasha...'

"What have I done bad?"

"You're so ignorant, Inuyasha! Did you even consider you are the reason I left?" Was he really that dense? Three weeks she had been gone and he didn't even care!

Inuyasha looked a bit reluctant to answer but finally he spat out, "Of course I did. Everything is always my fault. You couldn't stand being around a half-breed like me..." His eyes found the boy Kagome had returned with, who had been looking quite amused at the whole situation, "But I never thought you'd leave all of us for some weak human."

"Who you calling weak, puppy?" Apparently, Pietro didn't like to be insulted. Neither did Inuyasha.

A growl rippled through the fuming hanyou. He crouched and bounded across the expanse of grass separating the two boys. Pietro, looking undisturbed by the half demon's rapid approach, waited patiently for the dog boy to get within striking distance.

Kagome did not want to witness a fight that her new friend would surely lose. It might not have yet occurred to him but, he, being human had a very slim chance of fighting off the half demon. 'Besides, this is long overdue anyway.' The miko broke into a sugary sweet smile and watched Inuyasha's eyes widen in terror, "SIT BOY!"

The hanyou crashed into the ground at the blue eyed boy's feet. "You have him so well trained," he said between laughs at the other boy's pain, "But I think I could have disciplined the bad doggy."

She rolled her eyes. "Pietro, you don't seem to understand the whole human-demon strength difference." His recklessness would eventually be rewarded when she couldn't rescue him from the wrath of Inuyasha. Hopefully the hanyou wouldn't be too hard on him.

"Why'd you do that, wench?!?" Inuyasha managed to pull himself out of the crater his body had created. Both boys stood face to face, glaring hatefully at the other.

"You're just trying to get into a pointless fight. Has he done anything wrong?"

Inuyasha opened his mouth to answer her...but no words came out. He couldn't think of anything that the blue eyed boy had done wrong. It wasn't his fault that Kagome had decided to thank him with a kiss on the cheek...

"I guess your right Kagome. After all, _you_ were the one who kissed him." Kagome's mouth formed an O as she realized why Inuyasha was so upset. Kouga was bad enough but at least she never returned his feelings. To Inuyasha, the little peck on the cheek she gave to Pietro must have looked way more meaningful than it truly was.

Pietro burst out laughing, "That's what this is all about? She kissed me on the_ cheek_. Not the most intimate gesture." Still laughing, he gave Kagome an amazed look, "I mean, you said he was possessive but he looked like he wanted to freaking kill me. Hell, he still does."

"Feh. You're the one who was keeping Kagome back in her time. She should have been here finding jewel shards!"

"Inuyasha, why didn't you just get Kikyo to find the shards?" Kikyo was much better at seeking out the shards. She would have been the logical choice for Kagome's replacement. Three weeks was plenty of time for the group to move on. So why hadn't they?

"Miruko, Sango, Shippo and I...I mean Kirara didn't want to leave without you. Besides, Kikyo has made it clear she is content to travel alone."

"So why didn't you come to get me?" Kagome tried to hide the sorrow she felt when Inuyasha neglected to say if he didn't want to leave without her. She should have known. He only wanted to complete the jewel and defeat Naraku. And she, being the jewel detector, was only thought of as a tool to reach his goals. In his mind, she was useless after her ability to detect shards. But she still loved him. She doubted she could ever stop. And even if she was just his jewel detector, wasn't that enough reason to bring her back?

"How was I supposed to do that, wench? You blocked the well! Or was it him?" The inu-hanyou shot a nasty look at Kagome's companion who he had momentarily forgotten.

"Honestly, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." The blue eyed boy's laughing fit had ended abruptly after seeing Kagome's eyes cloud over with heartache.

"What do you mean, Inuyasha? I didn't block the well."

"Don't play dumb with me, Kagome. You put a barrier over the well!"

"Huh? You know I can't put up a barrier! There is no way I could have made one all the way in _this _time when I was back in _my_ time!"

"Then who did it? Was it that new human boy of yours?"

"How is this being blamed on me?" Pietro exchanged questioning glances with Kagome. Their moment of confusion on the well situation was abandoned for the moment when Kagome caught sight of a carrot topped figure coming straight at her.

"Shippo!" she exclaimed happily while Pietro muttered dubiously in the background, "Does that kid have a tail?"

The small kitsune joyfully hopped into the arms of the young miko. "Kagome! Your back! I was so scared that you'd never return! Why were you gone so long? Why'd you block the well? Did that boy I saw you go back with make you stay in your time?"

"Believe it or not, kid, I was the one that convinced her that she should come back." Shippo's emerald eyes widened in surprise. The fox kit hadn't noticed the silver haired boy without dog ears.

"Y-you did? Bu-but Kagome, why wouldn't you want to come back?" His stuttering seemed to be brought on by a combination of shock at seeing Pietro and disbelief that Kagome would have to be convinced to return to their ragtag group of jewel hunters.

"I just needed a little time with my family, Shippo. I never get to stay with them for very long anymore. There were a lot of tests at school too...I would have come back eventually it's just he," she looked at her companion from the future, "talked me into coming back today."

"Ok Kagome...just don't stay gone that long ever again! I thought it was my entire fault since you left with that boy and I didn't tell Inuyasha and-" The young fox clapped his hands over his talkative mouth when he realized what he had just admitted.

Inuyasha's eyes lit up with renewed fury directed at Shippo. "You saw them?!? I've been worrying my ass off about her for three damn weeks and you've fucking known this whole time she left with him?!?"

'So he was worried.' Kagome thought with a spark of delight. Even if he was only worried about the safety of his jewel detector, it still lightened her mood that he was at least a little concerned.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha. It's just you were so mean to Kagome and he cheered her up a little so I thought it would be better if I didn't tell you. And Miroku, Sango, and Kaede agreed." said Shippo in a frightened timbre but secretly the kitsune was enjoying every moment of Inuyasha's reaction.

"So that's what you bastards have been hiding! You're all gonna die for this, starting with you, Shippo!" The fox youkai yelped and trembled in Kagome's arms.

"You won't be killing anyone, Inuyasha. Personally, I'm glad they didn't tell you. You might have come to get me before that barrier showed up." The miko clutched the kit closer and turned away from an upset Inuyasha. "Come on, Pietro. We're going back to the village." She began marching towards Kaede's hut and the monk and demon slayer who had yet to make an appearance.

Pietro threw a victorious grin at the bewildered half demon. "Later, dog boy." He jogged forward and disappeared amongst the trees along with the annoyed priestess.

Inuyasha

This was not at all how he imagined Kagome returning. Fighting? Yes. Sitting? Yes. Some jackass from the future getting kissed by Kagome? Hell no!

That bastard! Why the hell was Kagome protecting him? 'I would've ripped that pathetic human's head off if Kagome hadn't used the s word.' His nose crinkled in disgust. He hated that human's smell. That is, if the scent was even _human_. It had the general smell of a human male but with a strange edge. Something that wasn't quite human. Inuyasha's envious side took over and he discarded the important information his sensitive nose had picked up, 'Why does it matter what he smells like? His scent is all over Kagome! That's the real problem!' Inuyasha seethed while jumping from tree to tree. Kagome, Shippo, and the boy she called Pietro were walking ahead of him at a steady pace.

Technically, the other silver haired boy hadn't really done anything to earn Inuyasha's rage, but there was something about this human that he didn't like. Maybe it was because he had spent three weeks with Kagome while his past three weeks had mostly consisted of staring anxiously at a not-so-unbreakable barrier. Or possibly, it was the way the boy showed no fear when he charged to attack. Truly though, that cocky little grin of triumph that the punk had thrown at him was what really pissed him off. It was like the boy was silently screaming, "Ha, I win! She likes me more than you!"

Which was probably true. The miko obviously favored the other boy. She kissed him (even if it was only the cheek), defended him on both physical and verbal accounts, and finally she was strolling through the forest with him, chatting freely. Proof that she had visibly taken a strong liking to this male. 'Fine. Kagome can do whatever she wants.'

Even if his blood boiled every time she stood near her new companion.

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

"Lady Kagome! You've finally returned!" Miroku lifted his head and smiled warmly. The monk was propped up against the outside of Kaede's hut, previously with his head bowed in either prayer or sleep. He stood up briskly and gave the schoolgirl a welcoming hug. "I knew you would come back to us."

Kagome returned Miruko's friendly embrace, a task that was rather difficult with a squirming Shippo still in her arms. "Of course, Miruko. I'd never leave you guys forever! Where's Sango?"

She didn't have to wait long for an answer. Sango came flying out of the hut's cloth like entrance. "Monk! Are you molesting another gi-Oh Kagome! You're back!"

The demon slayer pushed Miroku out of the way and gave her another friendly hug. 'Oh sure,' thought a hidden Inuyasha, 'Welcome her back with open arms. Let's all just forget she abandoned us for three weeks and, when she finally decides to let us bask in her presence again, she brings a complete stranger.'

"What happened, Kagome? You've been gone for way past the usual amount of time you spend in your era." Sango searched Kagome's chocolate eyes for an answer. Shippo started to struggle in the girl's arms causing her to almost drop the kit on his orange head. The small kitsune wriggled out of the miko's grasp and vaulted to Miroku's shoulder.

"Kagome said that she had tests and wanted to spend time with her family." Bright green eyes darted excitedly over the four humans. "She told me that she was always planning on coming back but her new friend, the one from the well, got her to come back today." The mention of Kagome's new acquaintance brought on several inquisitive stares from the monk and demon slayer. Said new friend was nowhere in sight though Miruko and Sango only wished to be filled in on their miko friend's _first _encounter with the odd boy from the future.

"Umm...well...I fell and hurt my ankle on the way to the well and he just happened to be there..." Kagome made a mental note to ask her currently absent friend why he had even been near the well in the first place, "So he just kinda helped me to the Bone Eater's well and back to my house and after that I just spent time with my family and got some important tests done. Yeah...so now we're here."

'Liar.' thought a suspicious Inuyasha, 'There's no way she was only with her family and at her precious school. That bastard's scent is all over her! I bet she was with him for the better part of those three weeks!' Why was Kagome lying? What didn't she want them to know? Precariously perched on a wizened tree branch, he hoped the miko would shed more light on her blatant lie.

"We're here?" Miruko asked curiously. Shippo nodded eagerly and looked around for the human silver haired boy. Somehow he had snuck away unnoticed while the four friends exchanged greetings. Even Inuyasha was a little baffled. It was one thing for a few humans and a kitsune to lose track of someone but Inuyasha's senses were far superior to theirs. How had some random human slipped away without a trace? 'Looks like it's time to investigate...'

"Yeah, she brought her little friend back with her. I guess he already went back to your time, Kagome. The coward probably got scared." Inuyasha jumped off his post on the tree branch and landed amidst the group. He gave a smug look to a distraught Kagome, who was already beginning to search the area.

"I really doubt he went back. He's not one to chicken out of things. He didn't even flinch when you attacked him, Inuyasha. I should never have let him talk me into this! He's gonna get himself killed!" She started storming back down the path they had taken to arrive at Kaede's hut.

"I'm sure your friend's fine, Kagome. He couldn't have gotten far, right?" Sango ran after her friend with Miruko and Shippo scurrying behind.

"You're overreacting! He's been gone for what? Five minutes? How could that bastard have gotten into trouble in five min-" The dog boy stopped short when he heard an agitating familiar voice coming from somewhere nearby.

"I swear I'm not a demon, you crazy old woman!"

"Don't ye try and trick me, beast. Hold still!"

The loud THAWCK of an arrow striking its target could be heard over Kagome's distressed gasp.

Kagome

She blindly rushed through the maze of various huts to find the source of the voices. Her small group of friends followed the anxious miko at a fast pace, all but Inuyasha having trouble following her hectic route. Once finally reaching her destination she let out a relieved sigh. Backed up against the side of a hut was a pissed off Pietro. Surrounding him was a half circle of men from the village, fully armed, and at the center Kaede with her bow at the ready. An arrow was lodged in the outer wall of the hut just above his shoulder. Sure, he was being shot at but at least he hadn't been killed...yet.

He slowly slid his gaze over to the mitigated young priestess. "Kagome, sweetheart, would you mind telling the kind, homicidal people that I am not nor will I ever be a demon?" She rolled her eyes and watched Inuyasha's ears twitch angrily when he referred to her as 'sweetheart'. If he wanted to live, he would really have to cut back on his slightly sarcastic terms of endearment.

"Ye know this creature?" Kaede briefly lowered her weapon but never let her watchful look wander from the 'demon.'

"Yes, he is my friend. He's as human as you or I, Kaede. He's not going to hurt anyone."

"Are ye sure, young priestess? His aura is human yet...it is not _pure_ human and he bears some demonic characteristics."

"Geez it's called being albino! Do I even resemble a demon past my hair? Do I have fangs? Claws? Dog ears?" His derisive snickering coupled with the bored way he sauntered through Kaede's small defense was enough to get her mad. Did he not realize that he could have been seriously hurt or killed? If Kaede hadn't missed her shot...and what did she mean by, "his aura isn't purely human?"

Once again Kaede raised her bow and arrow into an offensive position. The villagers around her also raised their various forms of weaponry into the face of the blue eyed boy. "Don't go any farther, boy. Ye are not yet free to go."

"I've spent the last three weeks with him, Kaede. Believe me, he's not a demon of any kind."

"I thought she said that she spent all her time with her family and that "school" place of hers." Miruko wondered curiously.

"Yeah, that's what I tho-Damn't Miruko!" Sango swung the demon bone boomerang around and slapped the lecherous monk across the side of his head. The hand that had previously been groping the demon slayer's ass recoiled and rubbed his new bruise ruefully. She huffed and put the weapon back over her shoulder in the usual way.

"I knew it." growled Inuyasha while stealing glares at the miko and human, "she was lying."

"If ye deem him trustworthy, I suppose he may go...though I advise ye to keep close watch on him." The old miko motioned to the others and they lowered their weapons. Kaede's makeshift group of demon slayers then marched off to deal with another threat. Pietro strolled past as if he hadn't just gotten his life threatened. Did he have no sense of danger?

"Why the hell did you leave?" Her exasperated whisper got an answer she didn't expect.

"I was petting this cat. Her eyes are kind of weird. She's really fluffy." Kirara's cream and black colored head popped out from behind Pietro's shoes. The nekomata's twin tails brushed against his legs affectionately before the small demon cat ran to her master.

"Well if Kirara likes him, he can't be too bad right?" Sango murmured softly to Miruko, Shippo, and Inuyasha. The hanyou "Keh'd" in acknowledgement to her comment and Kirara purred in agreement.

Kagome grabbed the collar of Pietro's shirt and dragged him, rather painfully, over to the group of jewel hunters. "That cat is Kirara, the second full demon of our team."

"That explains the red eyes but, c'mon look how small she is!" The little nekomata mewed in protest and bounced off of Sango's shoulder.

"Go ahead, Kirara, show him." The group backed away from the kitten-like demon. Pietro was the only one to remain standing semi-close.

"Hey, why's everyone movin-Shit that's a fiery cat!" In a burst of red hot flames, Kirara went from a little cat to fearsome demon resembling a prehistoric tiger. Unfortunately for Pietro, he'd been standing a little too close to the fire of her transformation. The sleeve of his navy blue shirt was smoking and he was cradling his hand like a wounded dog. Kagome hurried over to inspect the new burns he would surely be sporting.

"Are you okay? Let me see your arm!" He gingerly stretched his arm back out. Much to Kagome's amazement the flesh that should have been extra crispy was perfectly fine. The cloth of his sleeve was charred and black but any skin that had come in contact with the fire was unaffected, "What the-Why isn't your arm fried?"

She was not alone in her astonishment. Sango, Miruko, Shippo, Inuyasha, and even Pietro himself were looking pretty dumbfounded. He cocked his head and gave his arm a fascinated look. It took a moment but, suddenly, his blue eyes lit up with enlightenment.

"Ah right. No wonder. I guess I still haven't gotten used to that." A sigh escaped his lips and he dropped the singed arm to his side.

"Not used to what?" asked the observant miko.

"Oh, nothing." He replied, not meeting her eyes. The skeptical faces of the group didn't encourage him to pursue the subject further. A silence ensued and the priestess waited patiently to see if he planned to explain the secrecy. Kirara, regrettably, had other plans. The now very large cat ended the forced lull in the conversation by mewing softly and nuzzling his hand. She licked his hand apologetically and making sure it was okay at the same time.

Sure, it was weird that she wasn't digging through the first aid kit now, looking for any burn treatment but not totally impossible. Maybe his sleeve protected him. Or he got his hand away before the fire touched his skin. Yeah, and maybe he really was a demon. She snorted inwardly and laughed the idea away. Kaede might think he was youkai but he just didn't have the right demonic qualities. He had some problems with recklessness but he didn't act like any full demon she had met. Well, not any demon strong enough to disguise themselves as human. Half demon wasn't likely either. Being half demon would mean having a whole family of half demons or full demons back in the future which would be nearly impossible to conceal. 'I better just drop it,' she thought with a half smile, 'I'm sure he'd tell me if it was important.'

"Okay, since we don't need to call an ambulance," Only Pietro would understand but what the hell? My as well enjoy having someone around that understood her modern references. "Let's start the introductions again." She clapped her hands together and decided to start with Miruko.

"Miruko, this is Pietro. Pietro meet Miruko." They nodded towards each other, a much more peaceful greeting than Inuyasha and Pietro's first encounter.

"Did you enjoy your time alone with Lady Kagome?" The monk always did enjoy enraging the easily jealous and very possessive hanyou. Lecherous questions performed this job quite well. His hand twitched towards the sword at his waist. Miruko responded to the meaningless threat with a sly grin and an innocent shrug. The look of death Inuyasha gave him was not at all improved by the suggestive smirk Pietro choose to answer with.

"Don't answer that more than you already have," A harsh slap on the wrist that should have been sizzled reinforced her command, "And this is Sango. Sango, Pietro. Pietro, Sango."

"What's u-Uh, I mean uh...how's it going?" At least he understood the need to think before you speak in the feudal era.

"Fairly good. Yourself?"

"Besides the whole almost getting _impaled_ by an arrow and narrowly escaping third degree burns thing my day has been fine." Sango winced; after all she had been the one to tell Kirara to transform, though no one had actually been burned so it wasn't really something to feel guiltily about.

"Keh. Enough of this. C'mon wench it's time for dinner."

"What are we having?" asked Shippo hopefully.

"Fish."

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

The general mood of Kaede's hut was uneasy. The old priestess hadn't given up her belief that Pietro was an evil demon. Inuyasha seemed to hate him for no particular reason. Thankfully Shippo, Sango, Kirara and Miruko were getting along with him well. The group of five plus herself and the occasional comment from Kaede were talking to pass the time before the fish was done.

"So, what's the story on the barrier that kept Inuyasha from getting to my world?" A random question yet important just the same.

"A barrier of your spiritual signature appeared over the well shortly after you're leaving."

"It wasn't just yours though. White spiritual energy kept coming out of the barrier. You can't remember this so I'd guess you might have been controlled." The demon slayer gave her friend a sympathetic smile and a pointed look at Pietro.

He ignored the wordless accusation, "White streaks? You're sure?" Sango nodded yes, "Did they shoot out often or rarely?"

"Not very often. I wouldn't call it rare for them to appear either."

Pietro's eyes narrowed and he stared darkly at the ground, annoyed. She couldn't be sure but she thought she saw him angrily mutter, "Kalani."

What would his sister have to do with the well being blocked? She wasn't a priestess by any stretch of the word and hardly seemed like someone who would want to block a well. 'I must have heard him wrong. How would his sister know anything about the well anyway?.' Come to think of his family, a question that she had wanted to ask came to mind.

"Um, Pietro, this is kind of random but, does your family know _exactly_ where you are?" Earlier she had asked him if his family knew if he was leaving but not if they knew where he was leaving to.

"I told them I was going on a trip to learn about feudal Japan. In a note. While they were gone. I'm sure by now they know."

"Are you serious?!? Your sister will have the police scouring the city for you by sunset. We've got to go back right now and tell them the truth!"

"No fucking way. You're not going back again, wench. I'm not letting you leave. Especially not with him." The dog boy stood up and got ready to block the miko's escape.

"Don't worry about it, Kagome. No one in my family will give a shit for at least two weeks. This is by far the most rational excuse I've used to leave."

"Oh yeah? Then what's an irrational excuse you've used?"

"Narwhale hunting. In Brazil. I was gone for six days. Not one phone call. I did get a text from my brother asking if I would bring back some native meat for him though."

"What were you really doing?"

"Can't remember. It's all a blur."

"What's a narwhale? What's a Brazil? What's a phone? What's a t-"

"Shut up, Shippo!" The curious fox kit started to cry from the pain of the new bruise on his head. Inuyasha needed to work on his tolerance for questions, no matter how stupid they were.

"Stop whining! It's just a bunch of their magic future stuff."

"Back to the more familiar topic of the well. You both truly had no idea that it had been blocked?" The two teens from the future both nodded their heads yes. Sango and Miruko sighed, the case of the blocked well would have to be marked 'Unsolved.'

Inuyasha lifted his hypersensitive nose into the air. His golden eyes lit up greedily. "Dinner smells done!"

The dog boy was the first to catch the scent of their cooked meal but Shippo was the first to snag some delectable roasted fish on a stick. A hungry monk and demon slayer were next to receive their portions. Inuyasha made it to the indoor fire next and the half demon happily grabbed two fish, immediately ripping into both. Kagome and Pietro got up and proceeded to the fire last.

The hanyou watching them allowed Kagome to get a fish but blocked Pietro from selecting any food. "I don't think so. We have enough for Kagome. Not you. Find your own food."

Pietro, unruffled, gazed coolly at the boy in his way. "Fair enough. I'll catch my own meal." He turned on his heel and started walking towards the door. No outward signs of irritation.

"Come back, Pietro. Its fine, we can share." Inuyasha's mouth dropped and he started to protest but the human silver haired boy just shook his head and smiled.

"It's no problem. I've been camping before which does entail catching or finding wild food. I'll be back later."

'Wow, he really isn't mad. Shippo goes crazy whenever Inuyasha does that.' Kagome shrugged and bit into the salty fish. Not long after tasting the fish, did she hear loud mutterings outside of the hut.

"...shouldn't have to put up with this sh...damn dog....Kalani's gonna pay for th..." So, Pietro was mad. No surprise there.

"So Lady Kagome, I'm sure I'm not the only one here who wants to know, what is your relationship with Pietro?" Miruko's question was obliviously asked to provoke the hanyou angrily chewing in the corner. Sango still felt obliged to punish him with a new red welt on his laughing face.

"I wasn't even touching you!"

"You're still a pervert!"

"You don't have to kill him, Sango. Pietro and I are just friends so nothing to worry about." The miko gave her monk friend sympathetic smile.

Inuyasha hastily swallowed a mouthful of food and snorted disbelievingly, "That's bullshit. You were all over him back at the well."

"Stop exaggerating! I kissed him on the cheek for being nice and helping me out of the well!"

"Really?" At this point, even Kaede's attention was focused on her.

Kagome started to blush, "Yes but we're friends! F-R-I-E-N-D-S! In my time friends can do that without anyone giving a second thought on the subject!"

"So you're saying if I did something nice for you, you'd kiss me?" Miruko probably thought he'd caught her in a lie but she still had cards to play.

"Nope," She tried not to look at the demon slayer, "I wouldn't want to make Sango jealous." Both the demon slayer's and the monk's face lit up bright red.

"I see. So there's no one who would be jealous if you kissed Pietro again or if he would return the favor?"

"Nobody comes to mind."

"Ouch." snickered Shippo. The kitsune was deeply relishing any and all remarks meant to piss off Inuyasha.

"What about Inuyasha? Would you kiss him if he did something nice?"

"First off, the likelihood of Inuyasha ever doing anything remotely nice for me of all people is slim to none. Second, he has Kikyo." Okay, maybe the never being nice thing was a stretch. He had proved before that he was capable of kindness. On average though, he was a jerk. Though, the part about Kikyo wasn't overemphasized in any way.

The dog boy knew he had little place to argue on this subject and choose to stay quiet.

"You kissed Inuyasha at Kaguya's castle and he didn't do anything nice." Of course, the embarrassed demon slayer decided to get revenge by bringing up that memory.

"It was necessary to stop him from transforming into a full demon." Her voice was hollow. Emotionless. She hated that she sounded like Kikyo. She hated how Inuyasha looked like he'd been struck when she said it. But she needed to convince herself that that's all the moment was to her.

Sango instantly regretted making Kagome remember. The way she spoke of it made it clear she wanted to forget.

Kaede broke in with a much needed subject-changer. "It is good that ye are not too involved with that boy. He may not be a demon but ye will find it in your best interest to stay away from him."

"What do you have against him? He's pretty harmless without his motorcycle."

"A motor-? Never mind. Ye should know that his presence is not that of a normal human."

"Or his scent." All heads turned to Inuyasha, "It's not human. I don't know what he is but it's not good."

"I don't detect anything unusual about Pietro." Shippo, Sango, and Kirara nodded their agreement with Miruko's statement.

"Majority rules. He's human and I can't see him being anything but." Kagome resumed munching on her fish. It was tough and hard to swallow but it tasted like home. It felt right to be back in the feudal era.

"Ye have been warned, young priestess."

"I'll take my chances. I trust him."

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

Bright rays or orange and yellow had begun to spill onto the village. Mothers were gathering up their children and fathers were returning from a hard day's work. Night would start its descent over Japan in less than an hour. And a naturally foolhardy blue eyed boy had yet to return.

"I'm gonna go look for him." The miko snatched up her bow and quiver from the side of the hut.

"Feh. Let the idiot survive on his own. Who cares if he dies?" The lazy dog boy was splayed out on a tree branch, two of his four limbs, one arm and one leg, dangling over the edge.

"You're just jealous she cares about Pietro." laughed Shippo from Miruko's shoulder.

"Go to hell, Shippo."

"Don't tell him to go to hell, he's just a kid!" Kagome huffed and inclined her head so she could better see the hanyou, "I'll be back soon. He probably just got lost." She said, not wanting to think of some of the alternatives.

"Whatever, wench. Just be careful. I don't feel like rescuing you today." Inuyasha's golden eye's half opened just in time to see the white and green flash of Kagome dashing off into the forest.

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

'I bet he went fishing so he'll probably be by water.' She scanned through the mental map of Inuyasha's forest that she had developed. The closest river was just past the next few hills. All the greenery of the forest had taken on a tawny hue as the colors of sunset washed over the trees. Pretty gold's, oranges, and reds danced across the grasses of the land. Beautiful, but the shadows were rapidly getting longer and Kagome knew it was best not to get caught alone in the woods at dark.

Sure enough, a figure was crouched on all fours at the bank of the river. Two legs and one hand placed on the land, the other hand poised over the water. Indigo eyes stared intently into the water's murky depths. Head bent low, he reminded her of an animal hunting its prey. The draconic expression he was wearing only further completed his predatory stance. Something shiny flashed through the water and he casually flicked his wrist sending a decent-sized fish into the air. He caught it with both hands and snapped its fragile neck.

Well, it was an odd way of fishing but clearly effective. Pietro still hadn't noticed her presence among the shadowy trees and shrubbery. He lifted the lifeless fish to his mouth. Eww...no, what was he thinking?

"Aren't you going to cook that first?" He jumped like a startled cat and swung around to find the speaker. Once seeing that it was only Kagome, he relaxed and rolled his eyes.

"Ever heard of sushi? I figured, this being Japan and all, that it wouldn't be weird to eat raw fish. 'Course it's not really that weird back in the good ol' U.S. either." He positioned the fish again in a place where he could bite into it.

"Oh be quiet. You've got to cook it or you might get some ancient fishy disease. And I doubt it would improve your image with Kaede and Inuyasha if you come back with blood all over your face." She stole the fish from his grasp and held it at arm's length by the tail as he tried in vain to regain his meal. After several failed attempts of trying to dart around Kagome before she could move the fish, he sighed in defeat.

"I think dog boy's gonna hate me no matter what I do. He thinks I stole his girl. But seriously, what's up with the old woman? She despises me for no damn reason!"

Kagome, ignoring the part about Inuyasha, giggled and answered, "She thinks you're some kind of horrible monster. Apparently, your aura isn't completely human or something. Inuyasha thinks the same thing about your scent." He laughed too, like the whole concept was ridiculous. Their shadows flitted over the leaves and fallen branches on the forest floor. The return route to the village was getting harder to follow with each second that passed.

"Are you?" She asked playfully.

"What?"

"Are you a horrible monster?"

"Good work, detective, you've caught me. Yes, I must confess, I am secretly a bloodthirsty werewolf who has been planning on killing all of you in your sleep. On the full moon, of course."

"I always suspected..."

"And I would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids"

"I don't see any police. Looks like you're still safe."

"This isn't looking good for you, Kagome. You're out here all alone with the big, bad werewolf."

"Sorry buddy, no full moon. Kouga's scarier then you."

"Kouga?"

"Wolf demon."

"Well, who said I need a full moon? That's just when I like devouring my victims."

"I'm terrified. Really, I am."

"You should be. Aroooooo!!!" He started howling and cackling like a crazy hyena. This kid? Insane? Maybe. But a monster? Not a chance in hell.

"Aaargh! I can barely see anymore!" The sun had almost completely set and nothing but a purplish black twilight remained.

"Poor human! We werewolves can see perfect in the dark!" True to his word, he didn't seem to be having trouble with the dark. For every root her feet caught on, he was leaping farther ahead of, finding no problem with the landscape.

"Fine then! You get us back to the village!"

And much to her surprise, he did.

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

Kagome exhaled contently. The remainder of the night proved to be uneventful. Pietro cooked his fish and practically swallowed the meat whole. Inuyasha returned to his earlier pissed off mood. Sango got groped. Twice. Miruko got slapped. Twice. Shippo did his best to make Inuyasha's day even worse. It was entertaining. Kirara did adorable Kirara things. Kaede wasn't as on edge about Pietro as she had originally been. And Kagome, being her sweet miko self, did her best to make sure everyone was happy. Everyone, except Inuyasha, had completely forgiven her for being gone so long.

The moon was out and the stars were up and the group was getting ready for sleep. Water was fetched to put out the fire. Sleeping bags and Kirara's were stretched out on the floor. Sango's head was buried in the demon cat's warm fur and Kagome was snuggled into the soft sleeping bag along with a drowsy fox kit. All three boys, excluding Shippo, were slumped against various corners in the hut.

'All in all, this was a good day.' she thought, trying to suppress a giggle at the thought of Pietro's answer to her, "Are you a monster?" question.

'Now that I think about it...did he ever really_ answer_ it?' He made up some absurd werewolf story that was practically dripping with sarcasm so she figured that was a no. Was he just being funny or purposefully avoiding answering the question? Actually he had _a lot_ of things she should ask him about, starting with why his hand didn't burn or why he associated the barrier at the well with Kalani. Was there any truth to what Inuyasha and Kaede were saying?

'Maybe I should ask him...just so I can be sure.'

No, it would just be weird. He's human. She should leave it at that. And with that final thought, the young miko closed her chocolate eyes and drifted off into what would hopefully be a peaceful night of sleep. 

She really should have asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Foreshadowing. Gotta love it.

Well that's it for chapter 5. Poor Inu. He's barely gotten any time for his thoughts in the story so far! He gets more time to bitch and complain next chapter. And the one after that. *devious laughter*

This hasn't been very KagxInu so far but don't worry, I'll get there.

I think it's pretty obvious I was hyper (at 3 a.m.) while writing this chapter. Ya know the whole narwhale hunting thing and my use of a Scooby Doo quote. So I think I'm gonna go enjoy my sugary crash from way too much Mountain Dew. Happy belated Easter! Review!!! 


	6. Decisions, Decisions

Chapter 6:

A/N: Wow, I got a lot of review on that last chapter! Hehe I'm glad you people liked it! Thank you all so much!  
I will be keeping this fic InuxKag because I love them as a couple and it would seriously screw up my plot line if I didn't.  
Also, Pietro is not Inuyasha's reincarnation; he just has the same colored hair due to how I got the idea for his character design and name. Which brings me to something else I realized...I forgot to give him a last name!  
Yeah... So oops, I'll think of one soon and put it in the next chapter somehow...I already have an idea :) Once again, thanks everyone for the reviews! Now, on to the story!

Inuyasha

Did he even want to know what she was doing with him? Off in the woods, _alone_, the possibilities running through his mind were not good ones. Not at all. Out of the forest, they had stumbled, both laughing at some inside joke. Miruko had grinned like the lecher he was, obviously imagining the things that could have happened between the two. Sango had looked undecided about what she thought had occurred concerning the two humans. Shippo had been oblivious to the situation and immediately ran to greet them. Kirara had...well it was hard to tell what Kirara thought about this type of thing. He, himself, had planned the various ways he could murder the human boy with minimal sits from Kagome. In his mind, nothing worked, although some were very creative. After he had gotten over his more violent ideas, the hanyou had thought. And thought. And thought about why Kagome was betraying him like this. With this overconfident, cocky, jackass, son of a bitch, weak, pathetic, human!

Okay, so maybe he wanted to know what they were doing. Just a little bit. Just enough to assure himself that Kagome was really only friends with Pietro. She'd said it over and over earlier in the day but no matter how many times she said it, he couldn't be sure. Not since she kissed that bastard just because he was nice to her. And all the hurtful things she had said to answer Miruko and Sango. All things that rang true when she said them.

How she thought the kiss she used to stop him from transforming was only out of necessity. Like it meant nothing.

How she scoffed at the idea of him ever being kind to her. Yeah, sure, even he knew how much of a jerk he could be sometimes but fucking _never_?

How she used Kikyo as a reason to not want to show affection for him. A very half-assed excuse considering Kikyo hardly ever made an appearance and wouldn't know what her doppelgänger had been up to. Then again, Kagome was a big believer in the idea of morals and principles.

The most hurtful declaration, though, was her statement that she had no one who would care if someone were to kiss her.

Fucking unbelievable. After all the purely envy fueled fights that had sprung up between himself and Kouga. After all the times he was enraged beyond rational thought because some stupid male, generally Kouga or either of the Hojos, liked her in that way. Was she that blind? Did she not understand that it was killing him to see her, happy, with someone besides him?

'It's not fair.' thought Inuyasha, with some drooping of the puppy ears. What was so damn special about this punk? Was it because he was from Kagome's time? Or was it because, instead of being only half, he was a full human?

Except he wasn't only human. Kagome wouldn't accept the truth, that Pietro was hiding something from her. It wasn't something obvious to the rest of them, except for old Kaede. Her experience as a priestess must have let her see through the mask he was using to conceal his true aura. Whatever that was. Strange, perphaps, that none of the others could sense this but Inuyasha knew that his nose never lied. The scent couldn't be described as anything he had ever encountered. Either the boy's means of concealment was screwing with his sense of smell or he was simply something weird.

And it wasn't only the scent that made Inuyasha apprehensive. The way the boy held himself was almost..._predatory_. The calculating way he took in every detail of his surroundings. Like he was hunting. Or scoping out escape routes. Personally, Inuyasha thought hunting was the most apt analogy.

It was unnerving but not necessarily demonic. Pietro hardly acted like a demon and, from what Inuyasha could tell, he was very carefree. He didn't behave like he had any ill intentions. But that was just behavior. Not true intentions.

Kagome was too stubborn to even give the subject serious thought. She couldn't see past his facade. Or wouldn't.

Inuyasha studied the naive miko in her slumber. She looked so helpless. He desperately wanted to curl up next to her and protect her while she slept.

He wouldn't. Who knows how she would react to something like that? Better to just watch.

The half demon surveyed the other inhabitants of the hut. Kaede had been kind enough to let them rest in one of the village's spare homes rather than her own. The kitsune was lying comfortably next to Kagome, who was snug inside her "sleeping bag." Kirara was stretched out, sleeping peacefully, with a demon slayer using her belly for a fluffy cream-colored pillow. Miroku's staff was across his lap and his head was tipped towards the ceiling. Inuyasha heard soft snores coming from the slumbering monk.

Pietro was the last to come into the hanyou's line of vision. The "human" boy's head was tilted towards the ground, bangs covering his closed blue eyes. He certainly looked like an average human male. No pointed ears, fangs, or claws. 'I could be wrong,' thought Inuyasha, 'Maybe I'm just being paranoid.'

The boy answered the hanyou's thoughts with a very inhuman growl. His lips curled back like he was going to bare his teeth at an opponent. Inuyasha was about to respond with a growl of his own when he realized Pietro's eyes were still shut. Must have been a dream. But, what kind dream makes a human_ growl and bare their teeth?  
_  
'Yeah,' thought Inuyasha sarcastically, 'I'm defiantly just being paranoid.'

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

Something papery and smooth slipped across his forehead. Golden eyes snapped open to see a pale green snakelike creature fly over his head. A soul collector. That meant Kikyo was calling him. Should he go? Everyone was asleep, no one would notice. The only worry was that he would have to leave Kagome alone. Unprotected, with her not so human friend. Well, not totally unprotected. Sango and Miruko would wake up if anything happened, right? Kirara would for sure.

Kagome preferred Pietro anyway. Why would she care if Inuyasha left now? She wouldn't even notice. No harm done, as long as no one woke up. And if the "human" decided to show his true colors while he was away...he shrugged. Let the stubborn idiots accept the consequences. It didn't matter to him. Much.

So he made the very stupid choice of leaving. And of course he didn't see the tip of a soul collector's tail tickle the nose of a young miko. Nor did he see sleepy chocolate eyes open, only to see his disappearing figure as he deserted the group of jewel collectors.

Kagome

Kikyo. The first night she was back and he went to see Kikyo. Not really a big surprise. He probably went to see her every night. The promise he made to her three weeks before required it. Wouldn't be long before the illustrious Kikyo dragged him to hell. Congrats for her. Damning someone to the fiery pits of hell so they could suffer together. How cute.

Poor Inuyasha. He didn't deserve hell. A few years in purgatory, maybe, but not an eternity in hell. Not if he didn't go willingly. It wouldn't be fair if Kikyo tried to do it when he was unconscious. She's tried before so what's stopping her now? Kagome wriggled out of her sleeping bag, taking care not to wake Shippo.

She would follow, experience the heartache all over again, if just to make sure he was allowed a choice. She grabbed her bow and quiver and briefly stopped at the doorway. The rest of the gang was asleep and would be for awhile yet. Best to not tell anyone what she was doing.

So she followed without a trace for anyone in the remainder of her group to find her. She was on her own; no salvation would come should some danger befall her.

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

This undoubtedly was not one of her best ideas. Following Inuyasha was hard enough in the day, but at night? Totally impossible. Before, with Pietro, they had made it back just as the sun set. Even then, she could barely see and it had been Pietro who somehow found the way back to the village.

Now, the moon being maybe three quarters full, she had a little bit of natural light but not enough to track a superfast half demon. Her only hope of finding him lay with the telltale flashes she saw of soul collectors. She couldn't tell if they were returning to their master or searching for souls. The creature she was currently following had a pale white light in its grasp so she had to assume it was en route for Kikyo.

Dark green leaves repeatedly smacked her in the face as she increased her speed to keep the red eyed creature in sight. The soul collector seemed to be purposely going faster and was leading her through more treacherous paths. Underneath her, the ground was becoming slippery and moist. Some kind of water supply was probably up ahead.

Sure enough, a fairly large pool of water came into view shortly after a twig cut into her cheek. Blood started to seep out of the gash. Very irritating.

The soul collector had begun to twist restlessly over the water so she saw no harm in stopping to clean her wound.

She knelt down at the shore of the pool and laid her bow and quiver next to her. The water she washed her face with was cool and refreshing. From what she could tell, it wasn't tainted and hopefully wouldn't infect her cut. Whatever had been upsetting the soul collector must have intensified or disappeared because the luminescent creature suddenly shot out of the clearing like a bullet.

Kagome briefly wondered what was wrong but based on how fast the soul collector left, thought it best not to linger. She brought the water to her face one last time. She looked into the pool, checking her reflection, when it started to bubble like something was breathing beneath it. A small hand shot out of the water and latched onto her wrist. Very fast. Very accurate.

She didn't even have time to scream.

Pietro

First day in the feudal era and he had to say, it was pretty damn exciting. How many people can say they argued with a guy with dog ears, got shot at by an old priestess, and almost got roasted by a demon cat all in the same day? Well, technically he couldn't get burnt by the demon cat but, still.

Meeting Kagome's friends had been very entertaining too. Dog boy was freaking hilarious without even trying. The ears were enough to set him into laughing fit; it was all he could do to hold it back every time he looked at Inuyasha. Shippo, the kid with the tail, acted like he was hyped up on some type of energy drink all the time. Other than that he wasn't too annoying and seemed to think very highly of Kagome. The monk, Miruko, had a very interesting sense of humor, particularly when molesting the demon slayer. He either enjoyed the pain of her punishments or he literally couldn't control himself. It was kind of creepy. The demon slayer herself was plenty nice until the monk tried to grope her. Pietro almost felt bad for the guy. Almost.

The cat, Kirara, was cute and it was hard to believe that she could turn into that saber toothed monster. She was still fairly cute in her larger form and apparently could fly, so he figured she was a good ally to have. They all seemed like good people (and demons) and Pietro could easily see how Kagome was good friends with them.

He didn't understand, though, how Kagome was blind to how head over heels the dog was for her. Sure, he treated her like he despised her but it was way too obvious from the way he protected her. Or from the mixed hurt and angry looks Inuyasha had given her every second she was paying attention to him. When he and Kagome returned from the woods, the half demon had this pained expression like he had just been stabbed. So damn funny. He enjoyed the little "sit" trick Kagome could cause too. Pain with a little bit of irony. Doggy boy deserved it too, after all the shit he had put Kagome through.

Pietro didn't really care either way. Kagome could get over Inuyasha or she could get back together with him. That is, if they had ever been together in the first place. It was rather hard to tell from the stories she told him about the feudal era. Probably not.

The schoolgirl had acted completely indifferent (or irritated) towards the hanyou. A little hurt on a few occasions. That was progress for the "getting over the ex" side. Secretly, he was rooting for that option.

Sleeping was pretty impossible at this point. First off, he never went to sleep this early. Second, the position in which he was sitting was very uncomfortable. He guessed that he probably still looked like he was sleeping. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving. It wasn't really a state of repose, more so like he was just tuning the world out.

Really, he shouldn't have even let himself get that far zoned out. He didn't snap back to reality until the hanyou and miko were gone.

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

"Hey, get up!" Pietro softly prodded the monk's side with his shoe. Kagome and the half demon had both disappeared without any indication of where they went.

"Mmm...Sango sto-Ow!" Miruko's head lolled to the left to face the silver haired boy.

Sango, upon hearing her mumbled name, was the next to awaken. "What do you want?" She hissed, annoyed about being awoken at this late of an hour.

"I'm just wondering if it's uh..._normal_ for Kagome and Inuyasha to sneak off in the middle of the night." He gestured to the empty sleeping bag and the barren spot where Inuyasha had previously been.

"Maybe Inuyasha decided to spend some private time with Lady Kagome." The monk's grin went from lecherous to grim only seconds after his perverted remark. He twisted his staff to a vertical position and hoisted himself to his feet. "Hmm...I'm hoping this is just a coincidence but I can sense a demonic aura in the area."

"Naraku?"

"Maybe."

"We'd better check it out. Kirara, you stay with Shippo and Pietro." The nekomata twitched her ears to acknowledge that she had heard Sango's request. Other than that the kitsune and demon cat remained sleeping.

"I'm coming too." Pietro adamantly crossed his arms. They had another thing coming if they thought they were leaving him behind.

"Thanks for the offer, but Kagome would kill us if we let something happen to you. It's safer if you stay here." Sango explained whilst strapping Hiraikotsu over her back.

"I'm perfectly capable of defending myself. Look, I might be here for awhile so I better get used to the whole demon hunting thing, right?"

Sango was about to protest but Miruko put a hand on her shoulder, "Oh come on Sango, let him come. We could use the help." She relented, albeit with a roll of her eyes, and nodded. She brought a finger to her lips in a "Shh..." gesture, warning him to be quiet as they hurried past Shippo and out the door.

Once outside, they each took a breath of the crisp, night air. They were promptly greeted by a tired one eyed old priestess, "So ye already know. I was on my way to alert all of ye of the demon." It didn't take long for her to notice the absence of one hanyou and one miko, "Where are Kagome and Inuyasha?"

"We don't know. That's part of the reason we're not still sleeping."

"Why are ye bringing him?" The old miko had caught sight of Pietro's anxious form. Her uncovered eye narrowed.

"He wouldn't stay. Relax, Kaede, he just wants to help." Sango replied accompanied by a tired sigh.

"Yeah, yeah for the millionth time, I'm not planning on killing anyone. C'mon we've gotta go!"

Kaede's one eyed gaze lingered on the impatient boy, "Aye, he is right; ye better go locate your missing companions. But be warned, along with the risk of taking him, my sister is about tonight as well."

"Kikyo too? That could explain why Inuyasha's gone...Kagome too if she followed him." The demon slayer hoped that was the case. It wouldn't be a pleasant experience for Kagome but at least she would be near Inuyasha if the demon turned out to be strong.

"Name I don't know. Therefore, I don't care. If you need me, I'll be in the "treacherous" forest, y'know actually looking for Kagome and/or Inuyasha and/or a demon." He sauntered off into the closest grove of trees, showing no fear of the demon that could be lurking within.

"Sorry Kaede, we have to take our leave. It seems Inuyasha is no longer the only one always eager to see Lady Kagome." Miruko observed with just the slightest hint of lechery.

"Either that or he's insane." replied Sango, a wry half-smile forming on her lips.

"I'm thinking both but, for Inuyasha's sake, I hope it's only insanity." The monk laughed and ran side-by-side with Sango to the edge of the woods, "Goodbye, Lady Kaede!"

"Aye, good luck!" The old miko shouted at the monk and demon slayer's shrinking figures.

Sango

"I knew we shouldn't have taken him! We've already lost him!" The boomerang-wielding woman stomped angrily on the brittle undergrowth in her past. Kagome's friend had disappeared completely in the two minutes he had been on his own.

"Calm down, Sango, he's got to be around here somewhere." reasoned an ever cheerful Miruko. His pleasant mood countered her furious emotions.

"Kagome will never forgive us if he gets hurt...or worse!" She chewed her lip fretfully and searched the shadows for any movement. Nothing.

"I don't know about that, Kagome is a very forgiving per-"

He was abruptly cut off by the demon slayer's sharp, "Hush!"

She pointed out a shimmery green shape zipping through the trees.

"A soul collector?"

"Yes, it must be returning to Kikyo. If we follow it, it might lead us to Inuyasha and even Kagome." Sango was reluctant to abandon the search for Pietro but he wasn't the only one missing.

"Maybe we can't find Pietro because he saw a soul collector and followed it." Miruko said, eyes never wavering from the body of the flying snakelike demon.

Sango doubted this, namely because Pietro didn't even know who Kikyo was, much less what she was served by. But they had no other leads at the moment so it looked like chasing the soul collector would be the most reasonable choice.

"I hope so. Let's go, Miruko. The sooner we find everyone, the better."

And so for the third time that night, the eerie light of a soul collector was tracked through the treetops.

Inuyasha

"Kikyo." Inuyasha breathed reverently, seeing his past love gracefully moving through the forest. Silence filled the air; this isolated part of the forest was almost lifeless.

"Inuyasha." she greeted tersely, never faltering in her even rhythm of motion. He dropped down in front of her from the tree the soul collectors had led him to.

"What do you want, Kikyo?" He asked softly.

"Walk with me, Inuyasha." She replied, sidestepping him and journeying deeper into the woodland. The hanyou nodded his head and fell into step with the dead miko.

"Naraku has been dormant lately." Kikyo commented, staring straight ahead. Her cold monotone echoed loudly out to the sky.

"Yeah, he's probably planning something big." The half demon's golden gaze watched her carefully.

"Yes. He may strike soon."

"I'm ready for him. I can handle it." Inuyasha said, full of self-confidence.

She stopped and turned to him. Her dark eyes read "No, you can't." but she said nothing. An emotionless sigh later and they were back to walking.

They came upon a pretty shoreline to a small lake or large pond. Little drafts of wind poured off the water and playfully tossed around the hair of the hanyou and priestess. "Do you smell anything unusual, Inuyasha?" she paused their midnight stroll and searched the water with her cold eyes.

"No...Why?"

"Something is not right. We will stay here." She found a nearby flat rock to rest on. Her body folded into a sitting position and she sat. Watching the water.

"Uh, okay." Inuyasha was confused and tired. Kikyo seemed to want nothing more than to warn him about Naraku. So, why stop here?

Didn't matter. Neither did the nagging voices in his head telling him to find Kagome. He was with Kikyo. That's all that mattered. Inuyasha collapsed into a very canine-like sitting pose. The water lapped the bank in very normal, gentle waves

Never did he guess what lay beneath those waters.

Hakudoshi

What an easy catch the girl was. So little effort had been necessary for her capture. She had practically walked right into it.

The lavender eyed demon laughed darkly. His poor prisoner was suspended helplessly in his barrier. Paralyzed. But still able to see.

She was trying, in vain, to appear brave. The miko's facial expressions were the only functioning part of her paralyzed body. He smiled. She was terrified and he knew it.

"Are you enjoying the water, Kagome?" As expected, she didn't respond.

The sadistic child chuckled, "Don't worry. You won't be down here much longer."

The plan was fairly simple. Capture the half demon's miko. Make him watch her die. Enjoy his suffering. Resurrect her with a jewel shard. Control her and make her find jewel shards. It was all the little details that were hard.

His favorite part was the barrier he had created. Completely invisible to anyone possessing demonic blood. Meaning Inuyasha wouldn't see them until Hakudoshi wanted him too. The demon slayer and monk could see them. Unfortunately, the barrier wouldn't protect against anything should someone attack it. But that's what the water was for.

Waiting was the most annoying part. Naraku ordered him to do this two weeks ago. In the time he had spent staking out the group, he hadn't seen the miko once, until now.

Just a forlorn half demon, a sobbing kitsune, a frequently angry demon slayer, and an optimistic monk. Boring.

Now, out of nowhere, she was back. No warning, she had just returned. He had overlooked something. Something obvious.

Hakudoshi didn't worry.

It didn't matter as long as the overlooked detail didn't hinder the plan. Even if it did, he could beat it. He was Hakudoshi. He could not be defeated.

Help was still welcomed.

Kikyo was a big help.

Not that she knew it.

Why would she miss one soul collector? And that one soul collector was doing a lot of damage. They were such easy creatures to manipulate.

Luring the priestess was easy enough. Capturing her, even easier.

His childish grin grew wider. Two people had set foot on the bank.

Kikyo and Inuyasha.

Now the real fun could begin.

Pietro

Lost wasn't exactly the word he would use to describe his situation. Hmm...Well, at least, getting lost wasn't his original intention.

He had planned to simply wander around the nearby trees a bit until Kagome's friends caught up. This had worked out fine for around 2 minutes. He was skipping rocks across the leafy forest floor when he performed the action that resulted in his separation from Sango and Miruko.

He looked up.

And...

_Wow._

Just wow.

Never before in his young life had he seen such a spectacular sight. No smog blocked it out. No lights outshined its luster. No pollution muddled its wonderful brilliance.

_The night sky!_

Pietro could, on occasion, get distracted. Distractions were, mainly, anything shiny. This completely redefined his version of the word shiny.

Back in the nation of America, there were some places where the stars glowed bright. The skies he lived under though were clogged with the horrid discharge left by the human species. Tokyo wasn't much better.

But ancient Japan was magnificent. The sky was absolutely and without a doubt...clear. Every star could be seen. The moon's rays were completely unblocked. Oh and the Milky Way! Breathtaking!

Now, Pietro was not usually one to get excited about stuff like this. But he was a kid who'd grown up seeing only the brightest of stars and hazy images of the moon. Smoggy skies and all the great stuff you get from living in a big city. And without recent happenings, that would have probably been all he would ever see.

One more thing to add to his list of things not many other people had done. Seen the night sky of feudal Japan. And it was purely magical.

He could have stared at it forever. And he did stare at it long enough to wander considerably far away from his two companions. The only reason he ended his stargazing was because he ran into a tree.

"Damn trees..." he muttered to no one while rubbing his forehead. It didn't really hurt. It was just annoying. But considering what he had been doing, the tree wasn't completely without purpose. He might have admired the night sky for another five minutes before getting bored. Walking that far away would have not been good.

He didn't really need the two humans. Their only use would have been to find the demon faster. Honestly, he didn't know how to track a demon.

Now this would take twice as long. 'Great.'

He wanted to find Kagome too. But she was his second priority.

Pietro had a job to do and it did not involve going out of his way to retrieve her. Quite the opposite, really. Demon first. Kagome second to never. He'd only been told half of the plan, just his part. And he had not fulfilled his part of the mission. So, no more enchanting stars. He had things to do. Things he would rather postpone until Kagome was accounted for. But he couldn't.

The silver haired boy raised his head and sniffed the night air thoroughly. The scent that hit him was the one he had been dreading. It was rich and intoxicating. Kagome's lovely fragrance.

'Don't go.' he told himself, trying to get the smell out of his mind.

He couldn't. His seldom heard conscience spoke up, **'No! Demon first! That's your job! Demon first! Demon first! Demon fi-...'**

Hmm...Maybe it would be better to find Kagome. She was closer. It was the logical choice.

** 'Are you even listening?'**

"Yeah, I'll go make sure everything's going according to plan, then I'll find the demon." he muttered quietly. Based on his nose, there wasn't any blood so she couldn't be in mortal peril. He would just stop in, make sure the dog was nearby, and that's all he would do. Well, actually, that's all he was allowed to do...

** 'Okay, fine. Screw it. Go do whatever you want.'**

Whatever. He'd only spend a few minutes to check up on Kagome. Then back to the mission. _Just a few minutes..._

Kagome

She couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Couldn't feel. In her current state, she couldn't do a lot of things.

All she could do was watch. And breathe. Barely. She didn't know why. Hakudoshi was not probing her soul. Still, the second she had been taken underwater, all of her muscles had gone limp. Luckily the circular barrier was subzero so she floated instead of lying in a crumpled heap like she would have in any gravity-enabled place.

Hakudoshi's barrier completely encompassed its creator and herself. So far, it seemed to be impervious to the surrounding waters.

Darkness was the only thing she saw outside of the barrier. Lack of sunlight had turned the sparkling pool of water into a dark abyss.

She had been foolish. She should have let her wound bleed instead of stopping to clean it. But she hadn't. And now she was here. Trapped and at the mercy of one of Naraku's incarnations.

Her only hope of rescue lied solely in the hope that Inuyasha, for some reason, returned early and noticed she was missing. That or if, by chance, someone back at the village woke up. Option one and two were both unlikely. Probably wouldn't happen. She was on her own.

Hakudoshi was enjoying this. Smirking triumphantly at her fear every chance he got. He'd told her she wouldn't be down here much longer.

Did that mean he planned to kill her?

She prayed not. If Naraku was planning to kidnap her, she would at least have a chance. A slim chance, but still a chance.

The face of the child beside her broke into a wider, creepier grin. "Looks like your time is up, Kagome. C'mon, shows about to start." his eyes rolled up to focus on the surface. The barrier and its two occupants rose slowly through the dark waters. The only sound heard was the gentle whoosh of water returning to replace the space the barrier had resided.

It carried them up, faster and faster, a trail of bubbles following behind. Kagome was scared. "Your time is up," did not sound like he wanted to kidnap her. More like he was going to kill her.

Then, suddenly, her situation didn't seem so bleak. Because she saw him. Just after the barrier broke the water's surface, she saw her hanyou crouching near the shore. The young priestess' heart filled with hope that she might get out of this mess okay. He would save her. She was sure of it.

'Inuyasha!' she cried silently and joyfully in her mind.

But he didn't hear her.

Inuyasha

Staring at water, even with Kikyo, was not very exciting. Pretty dull, really, especially when nothing interesting happened. At one point, only a few seconds ago, he thought he saw something, a slight shimmer, a disturbance in the water but since nothing followed it, he figured it was a trick of the moonlight. Kikyo wouldn't speak so he was mostly left with his own thoughts.

He didn't completely understand Kikyo's reason for stopping here, though, Inuyasha had started to pick up on the sense of unease the small lake brought. It was still boring. He wished Kikyo would change her mind and let them leave soon. The hanyou did not like this place and he wanted to check on the others at the village.

For no particular reason, the dead priestess choose to speak, "Are you going, Inuyasha?"

He cocked his head inquiringly towards the miko, "No, why would I leave?"

Her dark eyes regarded him with cold surprise, "Inuyasha, don't you see?

The half demon snorted back in disbelief, "Of course, I can see, there's no reason for me to leave."

Emotionless chocolate eyes bored into him, searching for a hint of a lie. Finally, Kikyo was satisfied by his statement, "So it seems you truely have chosen. I suppose those weeks changed you." The deceased miko returned her attention to the water or rather, above the water.

"What?" he asked, not getting at what she was saying? Amber eyes gazed blankly at her quiet form. He waited for an answer but no explanation came.

"Feh." he huffed and went back to copying Kikyo and watching. There wasn't really much to watch. Trees, water, and the sky. All of which, didn't do much. Kikyo was focused solely on one area in the sky. A patch of sky that was no different than any other part of it.

Inuyasha was beginning to miss, Kagome. Her endless chatter could have killed the silence of the forest. Her warm, peppy nature would have been a welcome change to contrast Kikyo's cold, emotionless presence.

The hanyou grinned absentmindedly at the thought of the jubilant miko. He would see her soon. Kikyo couldn't keep him here forever.

Kagome

He wasn't saving her. Wasn't even attempting to. Inuyasha was...talking with Kikyo. Was she controlling him? Didn't look like it. The pout on his face after she stopped speaking made it seem more like they had been arguing.

Now he was surveying the surrounding woods. Then he looked at her. Straight at her. Any moment now, he would see the danger she was in and rush in as her savior. But instead of jumping to her rescue, he grinned. Grinned at her. Almost like he wanted to see her die.

She was terrified now. Inuyasha was enjoying her suffering. This time, he wouldn't be the knight to her damsel in distress.

Hakudoshi took in the girl's despair with amusement. It was funny to watch her squirm but seeing her die would be so much better. He'd already waited two weeks; it was time to end it. Languidly, he pulled out a long, double edged spear. Shiny and clean for the kill. The child, with a laugh, raised the blade until one edge rested across the miko's neck.

Her eyes screamed. But her voice didn't.

Inuyasha

It came as a yell, a command, really. The only warning he got of what was to come. From across the lake, Inuyasha heard it, "Save her!"

That bastard, Pietro was screaming at him from the opposite side of the waters. The only visible part of the "human" was his eyes. Blue eyes that glinted orange in the light. A fact that Inuyasha might have dwelled on more if he hadn't been so concerned on what Pietro was ordering.

Save who? Kikyo? Nope, she was fine. Who else could there be to sa-Kagome. It had to be. The boy wouldn't be standing there otherwise.

Where was she? Inuyasha could not see her. He could not hear her nor could he smell her. He grasped the hilt of his sword to defend Kagome. From what, though, he did not know.

Pietro

He shouldn't have promised. Shouldn't have made a vow he couldn't keep. Because, in the end, he couldn't interfere. Only observe. And now he had to observe her death.

She was going to die and there was nothing he could, er...would do about it. Dog boy was refusing to do anything to help. It was up to him. This really sucked. Yeah, he liked Kagome well enough. Under normal circumstances, he might have even gone out with her once or twice. But was she worth risking _that_ over? Could he really let her die?

Pietro, truly and fully, didn't know what to do. If he saved her...well, he didn't even want to think about what would happen. And if he didn't save her...she would die. Which was worse?

Both were equally bad, in his opinion, except one was selfish, the other selfless. Deep down, he knew the right choice, he just didn't want to make it.

Time was running out for him to choose. The little boy had raised a weapon to Kagome's throat. Why her assailant was a little boy, he did not know. Though, the lavender haired creep defiantly wasn't the weirdest enemy he had faced. Anyway, he had to get back to the main question. Should he let her die or try a rescue mission?

No. He couldn't do it. He would never forgive himself but he couldn't do it. It was the wrong choice, he knew it. Still though, he would make it. Because he had to. Eventually, he would catch hell for it. And it was going to hurt. _A lot_.

He sighed deeply; head bent low, and took one step towards his decision.

Sango

They arrived just in time to see the finale. Kagome, limp and high off the water's calm surface. Hakudoshi pressing a blade to her throat.

Too late. They had gotten there much too late. Miruko understood. Neither of them let loose their weapons. Her boomerang would only bounce off the barrier and Miruko's wind tunnel couldn't be used without sucking Kagome in as well.

She had to at least make an effort. Sango ran blindly towards the water's edge to fling Hiraikotsu at the barrier.

Miruko stopped her, quickly catching her wrist and holding her back. "No, Sango, don't! Look at the water!"

Nothing was wrong with the water itself. Anything the water touched was what warned them. Grass slick with the rolling waves shriveled and died. Plants caught in the waves blackened and crumbled like they had been burnt.

No way could they risk getting near that. And she doubted she could get a clear shot otherwise.

For Sango, the defeat didn't set in when she recognized the uselessness of her and her companion. It was when she saw Inuyasha with Kikyo, Tessaiga half out of its sheath, and generally appearing like he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing.

He should have been rescuing her. He should have been breaking through Hakudoshi's barrier. No one could do anything as long as he didn't. But he wasn't.

Sango wouldn't forgive him for this. Letting her die like this was...unfair. The monk at her side remained cool but even he couldn't conceal the shock he was experiencing.

She wanted to shriek abuse at the boy about to take her friend's life. Her vocal cords wouldn't work. The demon slayer didn't want to endure this again.

Miruko slid a comforting arm around her. His intentions were most likely lecherous but this one time, she would let it slide.

"Oh, Miruko." she whispered and rested her head on his shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Sango. You'll see." he replied as she turned away from the scene taking place over the water. She didn't need the death of another loved one forever etched into her mind.

Kagome

She was going to die here. She was going to die twenty feet over a lake in feudal Japan. No goodbyes to her family. Pietro or Inuyasha would tell them the news. Probably Pietro.

Her death would be quick, nothing to flashy. Hakudoshi would slit her throat and she would drown in her own blood. She had sort of gotten over the fear. Kagome had become...indifferent to her impending demise.

Her death had gotten an okay turnout. Sango and Miruko had shown up in time to realize they couldn't do anything besides watch. The demon slayer wasn't even facing her anymore. Miruko was giving her encouraging smiles, but she could see it in his eyes. He knew she was done for.

Her dead incarnate was hardly paying any mind to the whole thing. Purely looking on with a deadpan expression. Surprisingly enough, even Pietro got to witness her end. He was studying the scene intently, face twisted with some inner turmoil. She didn't blame him for not being able to fulfill his promise. There wasn't much that he would have been able to do.

The blade's metal began to bite into her skin, and then stopped. Hakudoshi chuckled and waved his small hands. The barrier disappeared. They still floated.

"I want him to watch you die." he hissed and pressed the blade back to her neck.

Inuyasha finally saw her. His amber eyes went wide in horror. He stood frozen, unable to will his body to move forward. But Kagome only saw him as the one who didn't even try to save her. She was going to die because he choose Kikyo. She forgave him for that. Yet, she couldn't get rid of the resentment building inside in her. So, for the first time, a spark of hatred flashed through her eyes. Aimed at Inuyasha. She hoped he got to see it. Because she knew she wouldn't get a second chance.

She closed her eyes.

Blurs of motion. Screaming. Gasps of pain. Skin tearing. Bones snapping. Miasma everywhere.

The all too fragile miko was gone.

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

A/N: Sorta Cliffhanger!!! I finished this at five in the morning! Hooray for the wonders of caffeine!  
Let me know what you think! And I know there is a lot I left unexplained but I'm planning on having a couple flashbacks in the next chapter to describe what people were doing or how they reacted. I'll try and get the next chapter out as fast as I can! Though, unfortunately for all you people, I am considering starting a story for the amazing Gone series so it might be a while…

Please review!


	7. Sleeping Draught

**Chapter 7: Sleeping Draught**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Never have, never will.**

A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long but my life has been hell for a while now and I haven't had the time nor the inspiration to write. Well, here's Chapter 7!

_And I would have stayed up with you all night  
Had I known how to save a life_

Let him know that you know best  
Cause after all you do know best  
Try to slip past his defense  
Without granting innocence  
Lay down a list of what is wrong  
The things you've told him all along  
And pray to God he hears you  
And pray to God he hears you

_-How to Save a Life, The Fray__  
_

Inuyasha's lungs would not cooperate. His mind could not process the scene before him.

Kagome, a halberd at her throat, held high above the water. So this was what Kikyo had been so entranced with. No wonder she had been surprised that he didn't leap to Kagome's aid.

Now it all made sense. Kikyo's unwavering gaze. Sango's face buried in Marko's shoulder somewhere down the lake. Pietro's enraged yells, telling him to do something, anything!

But it all came together far too late

He lifted his amber gaze to where she hung. Looking into her chocolate brown eyes expecting fear, terror, pleading, bravery, resign, anything except for the one he did see. An emotion he had never seen directed at him, even when he truly deserved it, from the young miko.

_Hatred._

Like she despised him. Like she was disgusted that he even dared to raise his face to hers. Like she blamed him for all of this. In essence, though, it was his fault. He was the one who had to fulfill his selfish desires and meet his former love. If he had gone to see Kikyo, this would have never happened. Because surely she had been following him. And now she would pay for his mistake.

After the look of utter abhorrence came the tiniest flash of regret. And that's all he got to see.

Miasma filled the sky and his beautiful Kagome disappeared with the stars.

He heard the scream. The gasps. The ripping skin. The bones snapping. And he knew.

She was gone now, her only hope of returning in resurrection through jewel shard. Becoming a puppet of Naraku. An existence worse than death.

And then the shattered hanyou was falling to his knees, howling, howling, and howling for the horrible incarnation to bring his miko back.

**Kagome**

  
Dew covered grass was not fantastic bed material. Especially when you are coated in dew as well. In short, waking up soaked to the bone is not pleasant.

Now when you expect to be waking in paradise.

Kagome Higurashi sat up, drops of water flying everywhere. Leaves and twigs tangled in her hair, tree trunks practically surrounding her, she knew without a doubt that she was, once again, in a forest.

She just wanted to know if it was a normal forest or a...heavenly one?

Then came the smoke.

The thick, heavy smell of smoke. In her situation, that did not bode well.

Kagome brought her knees too her chest and surveyed the area, fearful of what it could be. Of what she could be.

"Am I...dead? Is this...heaven?" she wondered aloud, mostly to herself.

"Hardly." rasped a weak, fevered voice in reply.

"Wh-What?" she asked, now standing with eyes darting about to locate the owner of the sickly tone.

Angry mutters were her only answer. "They're going to kill me...never gonna forgive myself for this..." Every word the voice said was hoarse and gravelly.

"Who's there?" she demanded, a bit more bravely with more confidence. "Come out where I can see you!"

"Well, you sure are grateful." Coughing then, "How about you come over here instead, princess?"

Princess. The voice had called her princess. There was only one person who called her that...

"Pietro?"

The ragged speaking had come from a small expanse of land where the trees thinned out a bit. The scent or smoke grew stronger. She walked to it stiffly, still frozen from the chill of the morning air and dew. She stopped short at the entrance to the clearly. Kagome barely recognized the boy she saw holding himself in a sitting position solely by the tree trunk against his back.

Blue eyes dull. Skin ashen. Mouth pressed into a tight line. Body shaking like a leaf.

He looked like he'd been through hell. Or was still going through it.

Despite all this, he still felt the need to comment on her uncontrollable shivering, "Wow, cold much?"

"Like you're one to talk! I can hear your teeth chattering from over here!"

His subsequent laughter was rough as sandpaper and obliviously painful to produce. "Do the words "drowned cat" mean anything to you?"

"Oh, ha ha. Face it; you're much worse off than I am." It was true, she was simply cold from the lovely bonuses you get from waking up outside. There was clearly something medically wrong with Pietro. Kagome did not find the situation anywhere near as humorous as him. "Pietro, I can tell your freezing. We've both got to get somewhere warmer."

"Seriously, I'm not cold. Actually, I'm burning up." His face contorted and he broke into another coughing fit.

Kagome eyed him dubiously, not believing his previous claim for a second, "I highly doubt that," She moved quickly across the little area and kneeled down next to him. One gentle touch to his forehead later and...

"Oh my, gosh! That is defiantly not normal!"

Pietro was practically on fire. True, she was no medical expert but Kaede had taught her a few things that she could do without the help of modern technology. Reading a fever was one of them. And Pietro was much too hot to even be conscious. With a fever like that, he should have been much worse. In a coma worse. Not breathing worse. Dead worse.

But for some strange reason, he wasn't any of those things. "No shit, Sherlock."

"No, you don't understand. I mean, you're almost fatally hot." Her eyes tried to convey the gravity of the situation to him. He needed to see that he could literally keel over and die at any moment.

Instead, predictably enough, he started off into another hacking coughing/laughing fit. "So now I'm fatally hot? Well, I guess they don't call me dangerous for nothing." He gave her a charming smile while she leered at his immaturity.

And that's when she saw it.

Smoke.

A teeny, tiny bit of smoke curling out of Pietro's laughing mouth.

'That would explain the coughing...'

"Pietro Shaw! Are you smoking?"

Kagome was beyond mad. If he died because of smoking while sick, she was going to kill him. She had never approved of smoking and this certainly wouldn't change her mind.

He shook his head, a look of indignance set on his face, "No, I had to save you so I over-" he closed his mouth and stared at the ground thoughtfully. When he returned his gaze to her, his expression had gone from indignant to staged shame. "Never mind, I-well, uhh...yeah I was smoking."

She jumped to her feet and loomed over him in a threatening matter, "Do you know how bad that is for you? There are a million different kinds of cancer you can get and it makes your voice permanently scratchy and you're doing it while you're sick? What is wrong with you?"

"I'm addicted. So save it, I've heard it all before. I'm sure I'm going to die an early miserable death like everyone says." He said every word jokingly, kind of causing her to believe that he wasn't being all that truthful.

"Are you sure you were smoking?"

"Umm...yep, pretty sure." He replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? Then, where's your cigarette?"

"Snuffed it out and threw it into the bushes."

"How'd you light it?"

"Match."

"Where's that?"

"Also in the forest."

"So now you're littering too?"

"Guilty as charged."

He had an answer for everything; however convenient said answer was for his situation. She stared at him blankly, hoping he would tell her the honest truth. He didn't.

"Pietro, something's not right. With you. There are way too many things that I can't explain about you. You're hiding something." The miko's tone was serious, trying to make him see that she was beginning to doubt.

"Uh huh, what can't you explain?" He inquired, keeping his same bemused expression.

"Like why you were even at the well in the first place or why you aren't completely freaked out by all of this! You pick me up like I weigh nothing and you got into my house without unlocking any doors! You didn't get burned and...and...y-you saved me didn't you?"

He narrowed his eyes and directed his gaze away from hers. She knew she had guessed correctly, "I'm right, aren't I? You saved me?"

"Nope, we're both dead and this is where we'll stay for the rest of eternality." He said with a roll of his eyes and a couple more coughs.

"Can you please cut the sarcasm and answer the question?" She snapped, irritated by him and the sharp chill coursing through her.

Pietro appeared to be a bit taken aback by her harsh tone but quickly recovered, "Yes, I did rescue you from that...little kid. It was defiantly worth it." The last part was sarcastic, blatantly ignoring her earlier plea.

Her chocolate eyes softened and her voice was soft, "I'm sorry. Thank you, Pietro. But...umm how?"

He frowned, "Don't worry about it."

"Pietro!"

"What? Look, you're alive. Not dead. So just...really, don't worry about it." His head went back into resting position on the tree and he started up another round of coughs.

She didn't want to argue with him. Not when he looked so sick. But she wanted answers. Up to this point he had dodged every inquiry she had thrown at him and she was tired of it.

"I have to worry about it. In my world, if someone's lying, people can end up dead. So, I'm going to ask you questions one by one and you're going to answer, okay?" He didn't open his eyes but she got the feeling that he wasn't asleep.

"Why were you at the well, on that day we first met?"

"I barely remember but I'm pretty sure I was bored so I went sightseeing." He muttered, voice getting raspier with each syllable. She doubted that, of all the places in Tokyo to visit why would he pick a shrine?

"Alright, how do you pick me up so easily?"

"Natural strength and the fact that you practically weigh nothing." Whispering now, like every word was a strain on his vocal cords. She had to strain to hear his faint murmurs and she was not pleased with what she heard.

"That's a lie but we're moving on. What about my house? How'd you manage your little break in scheme?"

"Remember my refusal to behave in America? Breaking and entering has always been a specialty of mine. Locking doors from the outside isn't as complex as you would think." He briefly opened his eyes and shot her another smile, looking quite out of place on his wan face.

"Unfortunately, I believe that one." The miko sighed and glanced anxiously at her ill companion. His coughing seemed to have subsided but left him with a terrible sore throat. She could tell he was struggling to stay awake.

"Good 'cause it's the last one you're getting. I'm taking a nap." Promptly after that declaration, he shut his eyes for what he hoped would be the last time for a few hours.

Pietro would get his nap. First, though, one more question.

She really wanted to get back to the village for four reasons. One: To show everyone that she was, in fact, alive. Two: Pietro needed serious medical help and fast. Three: She had the burning desire to sit a certain hanyou to the farthest reaches of hell. Four: The sweet, sweet warmth of the constant fire at Kaede's hut.

"Where are we? I can probably get back from here if you just tell me where we are. Then I can bring you some medicine." She inquired, not finding any of the landmarks familiar.

"Don't worry we can go back to the village soon."

"That didn't answer my question."

"Deal with it." Then, he truly drifted off into a peaceful REM state, albeit his ragged breathing.

She sighed and bounced from foot to foot, trying to keep warm. When that didn't work, she slid down the trunk until she was shoulder-to-shoulder with Pietro. He stiffened at her sudden presence and for a moment she thought he might ask her to move but instead, in his sleep, he sidled over a bit to give Kagome more room on the trunk.

The change was instant. Pietro was like a furnace, giving off waves of comforting heat. All frigidness in her bones melted. He might have been sick but being warm was currently more important than risking her health.

Kagome smiled. For the first time that morning, she was happy. She was nice and toasty with her own personal heater sitting next to her. A personal heater that seemed to be capable of saving her. Right now, she was gladder that he could make her feel nice and snug, even if it was his painful fever that caused this ability.

Before she knew it, her head was on his shoulder and she was promising herself that it would only be one little cat nap.

**Inuyasha  
~~~~~~~~~~ **

The hardest part, after the general shock of it all, was telling Shippo. They made him do it. Both of them blamed him mostly for what happened. He agreed with them but he would have preferred someone else tell the kitsune the tragic news.  
_  
Flashback_

"Where's Kagome?" Shippo yawned the instant the trio trudged into the hut. Their grief stricken faces and refusal to meet the kit's eyes warned him of what was to come. "Where's Kagome?" He asked again, more insistently.

Sango elbowed him, hard, in the ribs. Inuyasha knew what he had to say. What words he would use to bring the fox kit's world crashing down.

Inuyasha gritted his teeth and pretended to observe the floor. "She isn't coming back, Shippo. Hakudoshi, that little brat, killed her. She's gone," He spat bitterly at the floor.

Shippo's breath caught in his throat. He turned and searched his face for any sign of a lie, a joke but found none, "N-no...she can't be..."

"She's gone, Shippo. Naraku has her now." The hanyou's voice was steady and even. Almost like he didn't care about her death. His ears betrayed him.

The dual appendages drooped farther with each word, giving him a perfect lost puppy look.

Shippo, now fighting back tears, exclaimed hopefully, "We'll just have to get her back then! Naraku can't keep her forever!"

"Oh, Shippo..." Sango whispered mournfully, kneeling down to discourage the kitsune from such wishful thinking.

"No, Sango, he may have a point. We never actually saw Kagome dead. It is possible that Naraku is trying to lure us into a trap by kidnapping her." Miruko pointed out.

Inuyasha snorted dismissively, "She had the jewel shards. What would he want with us?" As much as Inuyasha wanted to think of a reason or a way that Kagome could have survived, he highly doubted Naraku would allow her to live when in death he could have her under his control. Naraku couldn't gain anything from showing mercy.

"We have to try, Inuyasha! Don't you want Kagome back?" The little kitsune pleaded.

"We all want her back, Shippo. I just don't see how she could have made it..."

"Hey, wait a minute, where's Pietro?" The emerald green eyes of the kitsune went wide as he searched the room for the missing boy.

"He got himself lost last night. None of us saw him after Kagome was...taken." Sango responded darkly disappointed that they had lost not one but two friends in one night. Inuyasha honestly didn't care that they had lost track of the not-so-human boy.

"Then maybe he saved her!" Shippo squealed with renewed joy.

"Lady Kagome's friend is human. A human without advantages such as say, a wind tunnel, or a life time of combat training." Miruko responded trying to be reasonable, "I just don't see what he could have done to help..."

"It just wouldn't be logical." The demon slayer placed a light hand on the kit's shoulders in an attempt to comfort the kitsune.

"More like impossible." Inuyasha commented tiredly. He had desperately imagined any possible scenario where Kagome lived. Not one even came close to the realm of plausible.

Shippo was not deterred from his new idea. "So what? Just because you couldn't save Kagome, doesn't mean no one can, Inuyasha. There's always a chance that she's not dead! We have to try and find her!" The kit appealed to his make-shift family. He started tugging insistently at Sango's wrist, in a futile try to drag her outside the hut.

"Don't you get it? She's dead, Shippo! She isn't-"

Inuyasha's fit of rage was cut short, courtesy of a purple-clad monk, "You could be right, Shippo. We can't just forget about Kagome, not when we are not completely sure of her apparent death. I think we should begin a search for her. Sango?"

"I suppose so...we have no other leads. I think we should go for it!" Sango's voice was a bit skeptical though, becoming more enthusiastic as her sentence progressed.

"Don't I get a say in this?" He agreed with the idea of a rescue mission for Kagome, he just had a few questions to voice. For instance, could she actually be rescue?

"No." Fox, demon slayer, and monk replied in unison. Sango and Miruko began deliberating back and forth, Shippo nodding eagerly to their every word. Inuyasha halfheartedly strained to hear their discussion. He doubted that their search for her would be very successful but he understood that they had to try. That he had to try. Just in case.

So after little argument it was decided that they would launch a search party for the missing miko once they had gathered the necessary supplies.

_Flashback End_

They didn't make it obvious but he could tell. They blamed him. Sango, Shippo, Miruko, and even Kaede, after she had been told, held him responsible for the likely yet not definite death of Kagome.

Inuyasha recognized that he had made a mistake. A lot of mistakes. Essentially her possible death was his fault. She would be here with him right that moment if he had only chosen to stay at the hut.

If only he hadn't allowed himself to be led so deep into the forest.

If only he had taken the time to search the air for her fragrant scent.

If only he had reacted faster to the invisible barrier instead of balking at the gravity of the horrible situation.

Too many if only's. Choices that he could never take back. Bad decisions that would stain his conscience forever. And, if his suspicions were correct, he would never get a chance to apologize.

The others clung to the notion that for some impossible reason, Kagome had avoided the early grave. He believed her to be dead or under Naraku's control. No one could have gotten to her in time. By the time anyone could have reached her, Hakudoshi would have had a bloodied halberd, and Kagome would be singing with the angels. That belief did not lessen his guilt.

Death was never a word he wanted to associate with his miko. The sunshine on his cloudy day, the girl who promised to stay by his side, Kagome was too special for death.

She was not by his side right now. He despised the fact that he did not know where was. He prayed that she was safe.

Guilt was eating away at his grieving soul. Twisting his heart like a knife. Not a pleasant feeling.

This tragedy, this aching loss of his miko, was most defiantly his fault.

** *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+***

Back at the village his companions were acquiring the provisions for what could be a lengthy trip. The plan was to leave immediately following lunch. A lunch that would have to be caught by his claws.

Animals of the big-enough-to-feed-four variety were unusually scarce today. No deer, boar, or rabbits roamed the vegetation. Granted, if he were to catch rabbits he would need more than one but they were bigger than squirrels or birds. Fishing would be the normal alternative to hunting though, after the events of the previous night, water only brought up bad memories.

"Damn!" Inuyasha muttered under his breath as he paused to survey the area. He wanted to find something to rip his claws through. To take out the pent up rage he felt towards Naraku and all his horrid incarnations.

Finding something to kill was harder to do then he had originally thought.

He slumped to the ground as a sudden wave of self pity swept over him. What was the point? Everyone back at the village despised him. Why catch them food? Hell, even Kagome despised him. That's the last emotion she experienced. Hatred. For him.

Her hating him was fine. As long as she was alive. He could live every day, in relative happiness, if he just knew that she was alive and well. Even if she was alive and well hating him. Instead, she was dead and hating him.

Over and over her death scene replayed itself.

Inuyasha exhaled a miserable sigh. Followed by a sharp yelp of pain.

"Fuck! What the hell?" A clawed hand slapped his neck, flattening the miniscule demon puncturing his skin.

"Greetings, Lord Inuyasha. I must say your blood is quite delectable as usual."

"Damn't Myoga!" He swatted ineffectively at the small flea demon, "Go away. I don't want to talk to you."

Myoga hopped onto the angry hanyou's nose, "So there is something wrong. I thought as much." Inuyasha huffed and crossed his amber eyes to glare at the miniscule creature peeved on the bridge of his nose.

"What do you mean by?"

"I was just at the village when I realized that I could not detect Lady Kagome's scent among the others. Your traveling companions informed that her absence is a matter that they would rather have you explain. I assume that you two are engaged in another quarrel?" Myoga bobbed his head up and down sagely, thinking he had the whole ordeal figured out. When Inuyasha gave no reply he continued, "Really, Lord Inuyasha, you need to try and abstain yourselves from these petty feuds. It only upsets Lady Kagome and causes her to return to her-"

"She's dead." Golden eyes closed, not wanting to look at Myoga when he gave an explanation.

"She's- . . .What?"

"Dead! She-is-dead! That stupid wench followed me and Kikyo and got herself captured by Hakudoshi! Evil brat used some kind of barrier to hide her from me and her friend, Kikyo, Sango, Miruko...they...they all warned me...but I didn't...couldn't...understand." Inuyasha's breathing was becoming irregular and came in short gasping gulps of air, "And then the...the screaming..." The half demon shook his silver head causing Myoga to lose his footing, sending him flying to the ground.

Fast footfalls were all the little demon heard as Inuyasha ran far away from everything and anything pertaining to Kagome's death.

And as he became nothing more than a fading figure in the distance, he realized running wouldn't help.

Nothing would.

**Pietro**

  
Why the hell was she leaning against him? She thought he was sick, how was that not a perfect deterrent?

_...Inhale...Exhale..._

He was already in hell, was it really necessary to further the degree of his torture? In his current state, her scent had gone from intoxicating to freakin delicious in a matter of seconds.

_...Inhale...Exhale..._

And considering his body was burning through the leftover calories of last night's dinner and he was getting very, very hungry, smelling delicious was not a good thing.

_ ...Inhale...Exhale..._

It didn't help that he had to remain completely still to feign sleep while he mentally kicked himself for allowing this situation to even happen. Saving her was defiantly on his list of his most spectacular screw-ups.

_...Inhale...Exhale..._

The feeling of being roasted from the inside-out, a side effect of his incredibly stupid heroics, wasn't doing much to help. God, it was like fire had replaced every last drop of blood in his veins.

_...Inhale...Exhale..._

Food was the only solution to his hunger problem but the heat would dissipate with time. Exercise, as strange as it may seem, would probably cool him down a bit, if he applied his energy towards the right goals.

_ ...Inhale...Exhale..._

So, he reasoned, hunting would essentially kill two birds with one stone.  
_  
...Inhale...Exhale...  
_  
Finally. She was asleep. Her breathing was too slow to be anything but.

Skillfully, he maneuvered himself up, taking care to hold her shoulder and head in place. Unfortunately, she has been leaning heavily on his left side so he would either have to prop her up against the tree or gently let her head and right side fall. Grass seemed like the more comfortable option so he set her down. Kagome started to murmur obscene things and for a second he was worried that she would awake, but she soon quieted.

After successfully completing his task, he stood up straight and sniffed the air, searching for prey.

Nose twitching, he promptly detected a scent. Rabbit.

His face twisted into a wolfish grin.

Lunchtime.

**Kagome**

  
She visibly flinched as the drop fell onto her cheek, tracing it way along her jaw line and down her neck. The next drop repeated the process. And the next. And the next...

Her eyelids clenched shut tighter, willing the water to cease its falling. Much to her dismay, her miko powers did not extend to control over the elements. Kagome gave in and allowed her eyelids to recede and let in the blinding sunlight. Once the initial haziness faded she was able to get a good look at the underside of the leaves that had been dripping water on her from 30 feet up. She was lying on her back looking straight up at the overhanging branches of the soaked tree. Which was odd considering she was sure she had fallen asleep leaning on Pietro with her head facing down. Who, it seemed, had gone MIA once again.

She ruled out kidnapping at once, she was fairly sure she would have been woken up if had been captured so that meant he had probably snuck off for some benign reason. In a forest with plenty of hidden dangers that he couldn't handle on his own. And, to top it off, he was sick. Great.

With an exasperated sigh she hurriedly got up and glared angrily at nothing. Now she would have to go into an unfamiliar part of the forest unarmed to search for the idiot who still wouldn't truthfully answer a few extremely important answers. She was going to skin him alive right after she found her supposed savior...

"Hey, is something wrong?"

Or not.

His concerned blue gaze bored into her back, sending chills up her spine. How long had he been watching her? She slowly turned to face the inhumanly quiet boy. To her surprise (and delight) he was attempting to build a fire.

"Oh…Nothing. What are you doing?" She asked, even though she already had a pretty good idea.

"Making a fire. Unless you want sushi for lunch er...I guess technically brunch, I suggest you help." Up until that point she hadn't noticed the two scaly bodies dangling from one of the least wet branches. One of the fish had been mutilated from halfway down it's spine to its back. It looked like some rabid animal had viciously shredded it leaving entrails spilling out of its body. If she hadn't seen it all before she would have been gagging.

"Uh...why is one of the fish half-eaten?" Kagome had eaten plenty of wild game while traveling before, always caught by Inuyasha, Miruko, or Sango, Kagome herself didn't like killing animals, but usually the hunted animal had all of its body parts intact when it was brought back to be cooked.

He blinked, "Um...well...It has to do with how I caught it..."

"Uh-huh. And how did you catch it?"

Pietro kept his gaze trained on the sticks he was sorting through, presumably seeking out the driest ones, "Well, I found your bow and arrows-"

"Wait, since when can you shoot an arrow?"

"I can't. I just took an arrow and waited for something to come along and when it did..." He mimed raising an arrow up and slashing it down on an invisible fish, "That," Pietro pointed to the mangled fish, "was the first one I caught. I stabbed it in the tail and then through the spine to finish it off. It was pretty messy so I just cut off most of it but I didn't do a very good job."

"Why didn't you catch it like you caught that fish yesterday?"

He shrugged, "Weapons make it faster."

Kagome studied him for a moment, trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not but, since she could think of no other explanation, she choose to believe. "Alright but you're eating that one. Umm...What do you need me to help with?"

He looked up from his pile of lumber, "Some dry leaves would be good. If you walk around the in the trees, I'm sure you could find some. Pine cones too. They burn good."

"And how are you planning to start the fire?" When the wood was wet like this she would usually have Kirara light the fire. Sadly, Kirara was back at the village with the others and she was stuck with Pietro's promising yet limited ability. There were only so many tricks one could pull to set fire to damp wood with something like flint.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"That'll be fun. Alright I'll be back with some tinder for that fire I'm sure you can create. Where is my bow?"

Pietro stopped stick-sorting and closed his eyes in frustration like it was a particularly irksome question. Then in a quicksilver change he switched back to his nonchalant nothing-to-worry-about mood. "Oh, I'm not really sure. You won't need it, just stay close. I'll hear if anything bad happens."

It might not have been the most important question but it was the one that almost put her over the edge. Obviously, Pietro was hiding something from her. And she had to assume it was something bad or he wouldn't be hiding it. She stared at him with disappointment in her eyes, hoping that he might confess to every little lie he had told and explain to her the things he hadn't explained. But, instead, he stared back at her with a completely straight face, not giving anything away.

"Whatever, Pietro. I just want you to know that you're not off the hook." She turned on her heel and marched off into what looked like the driest part of the forest.

Pietro watched her leave and sadly shook his head, "After saving you, I'm never getting off it."  
**  
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+***

Ten minutes of her best looking-for-tinder effort later and all she'd come up with was 2 soggyish pinecones and a small pile of possibly useable leaves. It wasn't looking good for her fire or the meal she was going to cook on it. And, to make matters worse, she was cold again.

She wished she was next to Pietro again so she could soak up the warmth he was putting off...

Except Pietro was a liar who she couldn't show any form of kindness, forgiveness, or affection towards until he confessed. And, if the cold shoulder didn't work, there was always quilting him into it.

"Kagome!"

She yelped in surprise at his sudden, urgent call. Leaves and pine cones in hand, she dashed back to what she thought was the way to the clearing. Anxiety filled her and squeezed at her guts. If some demon had come along and attacked him while he was sick...

Kagome ran harder, worry stretched out clearly on her face. She was still under the impression of Pietro being an ignorant, defenseless human boy though he saving her from Hakudoshi suggested that he wasn't all that harmless.

Bursting through the bushes, she finally reached her destination.

Pietro was calmly roasting a fish over a roaring fire looking at her like she was insane. "Geez, don't have a heart attack. I just wanted to tell you I lit the fire."

"Are...you serious?" She panted heavily.

"Why, yes I am. As you can see," He gestured to the fire, "the fire is lit."

Kagome caught her breath before she spoke again, "How did you light that? Most of the sticks you had were sopping wet!"

"I found an extra match." He replied slowly, cool blue eyes making her want to believe him.

This time she wasn't going to fall for his unlikely explanations."There is no way you managed to start a fire like that with a match."

"Well, I did. Fish?" He offered her the other fish he had caught though it was now on a stick for easier cooking. She sighed, not wanting to accept the food but too hungry to pass it up.

The hungry miko took hold of the stick and sat down cross-legged across from Pietro. She hoisted her fish over the fire and stared at it, blankly. They stayed in this position, both silently roasting fish, for a good five minutes. To her, the quietness was fine; even it was partly a punishment for him.

"You're mad at me." He stated frankly. She remained silent. "You're kinda being a hypocrite, y'know?"

Chocolate brown eyes went dark with fury, "What? How can you say that!"

"You keep secrets on a daily basis from practically everyone you know excluding your family. Your whole school thinks you are suffering from horrible diseases while in reality you're perfectly healthy and putting yourself in danger in the feudal era! And now I have to keep this a secret too!"

"You agreed to that! You're doing the same thing! That hardly makes me a hypocrite!"

"Kagome, no offense, but I'm pretty sure there's stuff you haven't been totally honest with me about."

She scoffed at that, even though what he said had an air of truth. Some tiny minor details might have been kept from him but nothing major. Nothing compared to the secret he had that gave him the ability to fight off an incarnation of Naraku. "Okay, fine Pietro, I might have not told you a few things but I didn't lie about anything! I have the right to keep a few personal things to myself!"

"This is why you're being a hypocrite! You're allowed to keep stuff to yourself but I'm not!"

Well. He had her there. She supposed she was being a bit selfish, making him tell her everything while she remained quiet about a few select things. "Alright, Pietro, you win. Keep your secrets. The only things I haven't told you aren't that important and I suspect yours are bigger. I thought we were better friends than this but I guess not. It's fine, just no more lying."

Ice blue eyes flickered to hers, sad and a little hurt, and she thought she had him, that he was going to break, but he just nodded. They both returned to watching their roasting fish which were beginning to become golden and crispy.

"Can I just ask you one thing, Pietro?"

"Depends."

"Whatever secret or secrets you're keeping, is it something that puts any of us in danger? I don't want my friends or you getting hurt because you wouldn't tell me something."

Never taking his eyes off the fish, he slowly, almost reluctantly, shook his head. She heard him mumble something, low and practically incoherent, "At least I didn't abandon you...must've earned some trust..."

She froze instantly. So true, what he had said.

At least he hadn't abandoned her like...like...

Inuyasha.

The hanyou who had laughed at her would-have-been-demise. Who chose Kikyo over her. Who left her to die. Glad that he'd never have to deal with her ever again.

Oh, but he would. Inuyasha was going to pay for what he did. This was unforgiveable. 'Yes, he's going to pay for this! I'm going to...I'm gonna...do nothing.' She thought with sagging shoulders. She could never truly hurt Inuyasha because, despite everything, she still love-no, she _hated_ him. That was the only feeling she would ever feel for that backstabbing half-demon.

And poor, poor Pietro who had only been great to her. He saved her, and caught some sickness along the way. 'Miasma poisoning?' she wondered with sick realization. He brought her to safety and let her sleep on his shoulder. He caught food and built a fire for her. Okay, maybe had his own motives on the last two but she had to admit he had been helpful and considerate and how had she repaid him? By accusing him of lying and attempting to force him to tell her a personal secret.

Who was she to pry in his problems? The poor guy, he probably felt horrible after what she had said. And he had put up with her this whole time...his tolerance surprised her.

Kagome was suddenly a washed with guilt. She had taken all her frustration for Inuyasha out on Pietro, much like the first time they met. She should have been throwing accusations at Inuyasha. And she was going to. Just as soon as she apologized and they could return to the village.

And then he started coughing again.

"You're still sick, aren't you? I doubt running around in the forest helped and now you're inhaling more smoke! Don't try to talk me out of it, I'm going to fetch you some water. You're staying here and cooking the fish." Kagome handed him her fish and hurriedly took off before he could regain his ability to talk. All she heard were his fading choked spluttering as she ran to find the water that surely had to be close considering the fish Pietro had caught.  
**  
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+***

Kagome was getting progressively angrier at Pietro as the day went on. Turns out, if you left the woods in a certain directions, which she did, you would find the exact pool of water Hakudoshi had captured her at about 30 feet away. So, in short, she could have found her way back to the village at pretty much anytime. The fact that he didn't release this information to her meant he either didn't want her to leave or he didn't trust her to find the way back. Yeah, she felt guilty for screaming at him for keeping secrets but this went on the list of things she could be mad at him about. Like his newly developed smoking addiction.

Nothing compared to what Inuyasha did. His treachery far surpassed anything Pietro did. If he had been trying his absolute hardest to reach her or if he had been protecting Sango or Miruko she could have forgiven. But he had looked straight at her and grinned.

He'd finally made his choice. And Kikyo needed her complete soul. And there was only one way to do that. Kill the reincarnated double. Neither of them wanted blood on their hands so why not make a deal with a bloodthirsty Hakudoshi? Let him kill her and obtain the scant few jewel shards she had collected, they always get them back later.

Too bad Pietro had come and spoiled their little assassination plan.

Complete guesswork but not a totally impossible explanation to Inuyasha's lack of his usual chivalry.

Kagome had mixed feeling about what she wanted to see when she returned to the village. Part of her hoped that Inuyasha was there; impatiently grumbling about how they needed to find Naraku. That part wanted everything to go back to normal and pretend like the previous night never happened. The other part, however, hoped that Inuyasha was long gone. He could be with Kikyo or on his own; she didn't care as long as she didn't have to confront him.

'At least I'll get to see everyone else no matter what.' The thought of her friends, minus Inuyasha who she could hardly count as a friend, brought a bright smile to her face. They'd all be happy to see her. Especially since they thought she was dead. Well, the faster she got back to Pietro, the faster they would return.

On the bank of the sparkling lake, lied her quiver and bow, just as she had left them. She hurried over and placed both items back in their rightful places, slung over her back. Having a weapon of her own gave Kagome a sense of security, she was glad to have them back.

She knelt down next to the pool much like she had the night before. Caution crept into her mind as she recalled the way she had been snatched previously. Except this time, instead of foreboding, moonlit waters, the lake was clear, inviting. In fact, the longer she stared into the waters, her own thirst was growing. Tantalizing and hers for the taking, the water was practically begging her to drink.

So she did.

She brought the refreshing liquid to her lips.

"Kagome stop! The water..."

It slid down her throat.

"Spit it o-"

Blackness closed in on her vision as she saw Pietro approaching hurriedly, looking at her with disdain and annoyance.

**Pietro**

Stupid fucking humans. Why did she have to drink the water? Poisonous, possibly demonic water? Good thing she was a priestess or she would have already been dead. The most the water could do to someone of her spiritual power was paralyze or render unconscious for a few hours. As long as she didn't stay near the cursed liquid. And that's why this was a rather large decision.

If he left her here, to die, he would make amends for saving her from death. He could get back to what he was supposed to be doing and forget Kagome and all her friends. They'd never see him again and they would find her corpse next time one of 'em came out this way for fish or water. Clearly, walking away was the smartest choice.

But he wouldn't do that. Pietro wasn't heartless and he had grown much too fond of Kagome to let her die. No matter how much of a bitch she was being about his desire to withhold a few things from her. Good thing she backed off or he would have been without a clever explanation for saving her. He knew exactly how he had managed his rescue mission, but it would be very, very bad if Kagome figured it out. That's why it was necessary to lie to her about his secret not being harmful. Truthfully, the secret made Pietro extremely dangerous. But, he supposed, he was sorta making up for lying by getting her away from the water. Didn't mean he wouldn't suffer for it though.

It was annoying as hell that she was doing this to him again. Forcing to him to dig his own grave deeper then he already had. God, he would have never made that promise if he knew he would actually feel obliged to fulfill it.

He stumbled closer to the unconscious miko, still weak from his coughing fit. Another lovely side benefit he received for saving her. He'd be good pretty soon though. Carrying her away, maybe even to the village was defiantly possible.

Pietro sighed and slid his arms under her and lifted her up. The extra weight increased his migraine and his eyelids squeezed shut.

After disobeying orders twice in a row, he was completely and utterly screwed, "I'm a dead-man walking." He mumbled quietly to the forest. Certain siblings and their various partners were going to individually gut him.

What fun.

** *+*+*+*+*+*+*+***

The ginger fox-kid was the first to see them coming. The little carrot top had been wandering about with the half-delirious expression of someone just barely keeping it together. Emerald eyes had lost their clouds of grief the minute they spotted him blundering into the village.

"Kagome!" He squealed.

Pietro cringed and clutched her closer to his chest. Squealing does not go well with headaches.

The kit ran up to them, so eager and giddy. He hopped up and down, trying to catch a glimpse of the miko's pale face. "What's...wrong...with her?"

"She did something stupid involving some bad water. She'll come to in an hour or so." He replied, exasperation creeping into his voice.

"We better show Kaede! C'mon, Sango and Miruko are there too, we were getting ready to look for you two!" Kagome returned to him, Shippo bounced with renewed energy. He darted off in the direction of Kaede's hut, Pietro trailing behind.

Entering the hut, Pietro gladly noticed the absence of the dog boy. Treachery was not acceptable. He knew full well what happened to disloyal members of a pack. Exile or death. Not counting the fox kit (Who was too young to do much punishing) these were humans he was dealing with so he doubted Inuyasha had been exiled or put to death. A pity, really.

When he had fully entered the hut, even with Shippo scurrying about excitedly, the inhabitants visibly paled at the sight of Kagome's unmoving form. The grim look the pain had forced his face into didn't help with the morose conclusion they all were coming too.

He decided her worried friends had waited long enough for, what they thought would be, a depressing announcement, "She's not dead, if that's what you think. She'll be out for an hour or two."

Their collective sigh of relief was instantaneous. Moments later they were all jumping to see their beloved priestess. As Pietro found out, rapid fire questions from monks, demonslayers, and kitsunes are also not good for migraines.

Sango was the first to ask something worth answering, "How are you two still alive?" Suspicion thickly laced her words.

"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not completely useless." Avoiding actually responding to the question, but still long enough for him to push past the flock of concerned friends and lay Kagome on the floor.

"Yes, but how?" inquired Miruko,

"Look, I'd be glad to tell you all about it except I feel like I'm getting shot in the head. Repeadtly." His legs went out from under him and he collapsed on the floor. Minor pain next to the jackhammer in his head. Or the lava in his blood. "And I've got the whole fever from hell thing going so how about you ask ginger over there anything you need to know."

Shippo shook his head furiously and started to protest but Pietro, wearily waved his hand, cutting the kit off, "Sorry I'm not up for twenty questions right now but I feel like shit. I'll be fine...in...a. . .few. . .minutes." With each word he slumped farther and farther back and at the last word he closed his eyes, feigning sleep. Maybe they'd leave him alone if he acted dead tired.

"Hmm...I hope nothing is wrong with them. Pietro looked like he was barely holding himself up." A voice he recognized as the monk's.

"He said some bad water made Kagome go to sleep and that she should wake up soon." The fox kit's high pitched tenor explained.

"Then I suppose we can trust that he knows what he's talking about. Let's just let them rest." Sango's melodious voice calmly suggested.

"Should we tell Inuyasha?" The monk hazarded to guess.

"No, Inuyasha can get a nice surprise when he decides to return. I think we're in for a nasty fight when Kagome wakes up."

"You're probably right. He should be back soon anyway."

Pietro suppressed a growl.

"I hope they make up fast. I don't want Kagome to go back home so soon." Shippo whined.

"He almost let her die! Why should Kagome have to-"

"So, how do you think they got away?" The monk asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Kagome probably shocked Hakudoshi with her spiritual powers and he dropped her. Maybe Pietro fished her out of that lake. That's possibly where the bad water she drank was from."

'I'm so using that.' Pietro thought, having finally found a perfect explanation.

"True. I can't think of any other way that doesn't involve Kagome doing most of the actual getting away part. I mean, Pietro just couldn't win against Hakudoshi."

"He must have done something, though. Look how tired and sick he looks!" The slayer's voice sounded slightly concerned.

"At least he probably won't wake up until Inuyasha is already back. I assume he is as pleased with Inuyasha as we are. We wouldn't want a physical fight. Not before we've even made it out of the village." The monk commented.

"Yes, but, really what could he do to wound Inuyasha?"

'What, indeed.' Thought Pietro, grinning in his fake sleep.

**Inuyasha**

Running away hadn't helped; only made it worse. He was left with nothing but his own guilty conscience as he tore through the trees. Nothing but his own guilt and one pesky flea demon.

"Lord Inuyasha, I implore you to return! The longer you stay out here, the longer it will take to locate Kagome! You clearly haven't found any prey so we may as well head back!"

True, the forest inhabitants were scarce to nonexistent and not one live edible creature had found. He said live because they had come across a pair of viciously torn apart rabbits, both missing limbs and almost every scrap of meat. It seemed Inuyasha wasn't the only one on the hunt that morning. The only difference was that the other hunter had been successful.

"What's the point in returning? Everyone back at the village hates me. I'm better off destroying Naraku on my own."

"Lord Inuyasha, you need to set aside the guilt you feel for losing Kagome and return to your allies. Self-loathing will not bring her back. If you want to have any hope of regaining her, you will need to reconcile with your comrades and get on the move." Myoga hopped onto Inuyasha's shoulder and gave him a stern look.

"Feh."

The tiny flea demon rolled his eyes with impatience. The hanyou he was perched on continued to stare blankly at a specific blade of grass.

"Fine, Inuyasha, wallow in your mistakes instead of trying to fix them. I will see you at the village when you decide to grow up." Myoga haughtily stuck his nose in the air and leapt of the red cloth covering the half demon's shoulder. His small black form disappeared in the tall undergrowth.

Inuyasha looked up, not really seeing but daydreaming of a raven haired miko. "Are you still out there, Kagome? Can you ever forgive me?" The whispered words received no answer.

He wouldn't receive a reply until he got his act together and found one for himself.

***+*+*+*+*+*+*+***

Voices from inside the hut abruptly stopped when he approached. Myoga or Shippo probably told them he was just outside. What did they not want him to hear?

Of course, their trust in him was likely very minimal. He had tried to explain to them that he literally couldn't see Kagome until practically a second before Hakudoshi slashed his halberd and miasma poured. They seemed to believe him to a degree but there was still some skepticism present.

It was a good thing he was the only one of them who thought of their group as a pack. Even if he was the leader, pack animals looked down upon disloyalty. Humans were a little more forgiving.

But he didn't even deserve forgiveness. Hakudoshi gave him the opportunity to rescue Kagome and he could only watch. He failed her, simple as that. The hatred she felt for him was perfectly warranted.

And no matter how much she hated him, he would lov-well, care for her enough for her to want her to live. That's why he had to find her and get her away from Naraku.

Sadly, though, she was most likely being kept alive through a jewel shard. If Naraku used her against them, against him, he knew that...that he wouldn't be able to fight her. Kagome would kill him and he accepted that.

So Inuyasha entered the hut to gather his friends and begin their search for the beautiful miko who was...

Asleep on the floor.

Perfectly healthy and slumbering peacefully somewhat next to a pissed off not-so-human boy.

Inuyasha's mouth gaped in a silent gasp at the sight of the girl he had thought of as dead.

"See, Lord Inuyasha? I told you returning to the village was a good idea?" Myoga said in amusement.

The amazed half demon didn't respond, only took slow shaky steps towards the resting priestess. He needed to make sure that it was truly her, that she was actually okay.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea, Inuyasha..." Shippo advised, "Pietro doesn't look very happy..."

The fox kit's words were lost on the hanyou, who was steadily approaching Kagome. Pietro started to growl a warning, blue eyes glaring dangerously.

"Since when does he growl?" Miruko whispered into Sango's ear.

Inuyasha took one small step closer and...

"Fuck-off, dog-boy. She's sleeping." Pietro hissed in a low voice.

Golden eyes finally noticed the bristling boy. Mind too muddled to think of a reply, he continued closer.

Myoga, who had been growing more concerned for the dog boy's safety as he watched the blue eyed boy, began hopping towards the door. Nobody had filled him in on the boy's background, so he had to assume by the growling that he wasn't human. It seemed like the situation was becoming more dangerous than he found comfortable. As he left he advised Inuyasha one last time, "You might want to leave them alone, Lord Inuyasha. He seems to be protecting Kagome."

Inuyasha's ears twitched in confusion. Why would Pietro be protecting Kagome?

"Listen to your friend, Inuyasha. I've got one bitch of a headache and I'm not in the mood for your annoying bullshit." Pietro snarled.

Sango, Miruko, and Shippo watched their fight with amusement. The outcome was predictable, Inuyasha would lose his temper, knock Pietro on his ass, and in the process wake up Kagome who would sit Inuyasha for hurting her friend.

This assumption was why they were so surprised by what happened next.

The silver- haired "human" boy leapt up in front of Inuyasha, effectively blocking him from Kagome.

"Move!" He growled, trying to shoulder past him.

Next thing he knew, he was flat on the floor seeing stars with a searing pain in his jaw.

Monk, demonslayer, and kit all widened their eyes in shock.

Pietro smirked, shaking his hand out at the same time.

Why was he shaking his hand out?

That son of a bitch punched him!

And he went down!

How the hell did that happen?

"I've been wanting to do that ever since I found her crying." He said with relish.

"Why ta hell did you do tat?" Inuyasha slurred, still recovering.

"Well, she asked me to protect her, probably because she knew you wouldn't, and since you're the reason she almost died last night, I figure you're a threat." Pietro was obliviously enjoying this, glad to have finally gotten the chance to fight him without interruption from Kagome.

"She asked you to protect her? From what?" He snorted, disbelieving. Inuyasha stood up and eyed his opponent dismissively. "Just 'cause you can take me by surprise doesn't mean you could actually beat me!"

"Want to try that theory out?" He curled his lips back into a half- grin half-smile revealing teeth that were a little too sharp for a normal human.

Miruko and Sango stood and placed themselves between the two. "Hey, what do you think Kagome would say if she saw you two fighting?" She glared at both of them. Pietro rolled his eyes and turned his back on them, thinking the fight was over.

Unfortunately for him, Inuyasha had other plans. "Gladly." He muttered under his breath answering Pietro's earlier question. Completely ignoring Sango, he leapt over the monk and demonslayer and slammed into the back of his enemy. Pietro hissed and lost his balance and fell to the ground taking his hanyou attacker with him. He shook him off and quickly got to his feet, ignoring the blood starting to pour from a new gash on his shoulder.

"That," He growled and delivered a sharp kick into the stomach of the half-demon, "was cheating."

"Alright that's it! Miruko you get Pietro, I'll handle Inuyasha." Sango grabbed him by the shoulders and helped the hanyou up while Miruko placed himself and his staff in front of the angry blue-eyed boy to prevent any further attacks.

"If you two can't control yourselves, one of you is going to have to go outside! We don't need any serious injuries." Miruko stated firmly.

Sango nodded in agreement, "So who's it going to be?"

"I vote Inuyasha. He's a treacherous jackass who has almost gotten Kagome killed twice in the time I've known him." Blue eyes gleamed coldly at a suddenly confused half demon.

"Twice?" inquired Miruko curiously.

"Yep. Last night and the very first night I met her." His gaze darkened as he recalled the evening. Whatever he was remembering, Inuyasha could tell it wasn't good.

"Care to explain?"

Pietro snapped out of his reverie and continued, "Yeah, she was really torn up about whatever happened here. She seemed to be okay when I left but I was still a little worried about her. I had to go back later because I left...uh...something there and when I got there...she had a knife and she almost..." He paused and looked expectantly at the others.

Inuyasha was starting to get a sick feeling in his stomach. What did Kagome having a knife have to do with him almost getting her killed?

"She almost what?" He snapped, needing to know the answer.

"Committed suicide, you idiot! Or, at least, cut herself because of you! People in my time do stuff like that when they just can't deal with their lives!"

"Kagome w-wouldn't d-do that, right?" Shippo stuttered, staring openmouthed at the still-asleep miko.

Miruko and Sango stood aghast, looking between Inuyasha and Kagome. Inuyasha's heart dropped as he realized how bad he had hurt Kagome. She almost took her own life...because of him? How could she ever think that...that it would be okay for her to do something like that?

"Dog-boy, I assume you think of all of this as your pack, right? Pietro asked, gesturing to the inhabitants of the hut, excluding him self.

He nodded wordlessly, watching the sleeping miko anxiously, unable to get images of her dead...because of him out of his head.

The "human" silver haired boy continued his random questioning, "So you consider yourself the leader?"

Inuyasha started to nod before turning to glare at Pietro, "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Oh, I just remembered something I learned about animals that hunt in packs. See, a good leader puts his or her pack first. They protect their pack. And if the leader becomes unfit to lead, other members of the pack or outsiders can challenge the leader." He thought he could detect a hint of malice under the nonchalant tone of Pietro's voice.

"What are you saying?"

He brushed past the shocked Miruko and Sango. Gave Inuyasha a sly grin and shoved the hanyou to the ground. Pietro stood over him and in a patronizing voice said, "I'm saying, puppy, that you're not a very good Alpha. Someone should have put you in your place a long time ago."

His blue eyes flashed, warning of hidden danger, "So why don't you roll over and save me the trouble."

The hanyou deeply growled feeling threatened, leapt up and grabbed Pietro by his throat. The "human" latched onto his arm in an attempt to relax some of the pressure on his neck, "So what, are you trying to challenge me?"

Pietro laughed darkly, "Me? No, I'm already part of a pack. I won't be challenging anyone 'til I'm just a bit older."

Inuyasha was sure he felt claws digging into his arms.

And that's when Kagome woke up.

***+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+***

**A/N: Reviews. I love them.**


	8. Dealing with the Devil

Chapter 8: Dealing with the Devil

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Inuyasha or any of the other fancy bells and whistles that go along with that whole franchise.

A/N: Well, hello there! I have returned from the lovely land of this-chapter-took-forever-to-write-I'm-so-sorry-please-don't-kill me!  
This chapter probably took awhile for me to write because I'm getting a little too anxious to write some of the more- ahem- scary parts. So I took a little break and wrote a creepy one-shot for something not Inuyasha-related :)  
It helped relieved me of all the horrifying and frightening things stored up in my mind so I could return to the more romance/drama stuff for this story! I'm still kind of sad I haven't gotten to kill anyone yet, though :(

Pietro: Ohmygosh, Skittle, you're gonna kill people? That sounds really mean! And violent..."

Me: Shut up! You have no say in this! No one even knows what you are yet!

Pietro: *looks sad* I know.

But don't worry everyone, I won't kill anybody important ;)

And back to the story we go...

Kagome

The scenes Kagome were waking up to were getting increasingly worse. For example, seeing her friend being strangled by the aggressive hanyou who almost caused her death.

"SIT! Sit! Sit! Sit!" she screamed with enough force to send the dog boy through the floor. Wood snapped and splinters flew out in a sharp spray. Inuyasha yelped in pain as body was thrown repeatedly against the floor and then the ground beneath it. Pietro, his neck having been released following the first sit, stumbled backwards, coughing out his thanks. Kagome stood, shaking with fury at the half demon who had been trying to kill her friend.

Once able to move, he shakily got to his feet only to be met with the angry gaze of the priestess he had been so worried about. "Get out, Inuyasha."Her words were cold and clipped.

"But, Kagome, he-"

"I don't want to hear it. You've done enough already. Leave. Get out!"

He looked like he was about to say something more but decided against it. Ears drooping and head bent low, his hurt form slunk out of the hut like a kicked dog.

"Anyone care to explain what I missed?" She asked to the four remaining in the room.

Shippo choose to tell her, "Pietro brought you home from wherever you and him were and you were asleep because he said you drank some bad water. Then he went to sleep too. Everything was fine but then Pietro woke up and Inuyasha came in a few minutes later. Inuyasha started walking towards you and then Pietro growled. Even though Pietro told him not to, Inuyasha kept trying to get to you so Pietro punched Inuyasha. After that-"

"Wait, wait, wait. Pietro punched Inuyasha?" Kagome inquired in utter disbelief.

The kitsune nodded eagerly, "Yeah, Pietro was really, really mad! You should have seen it!"

She glanced at Sango and Miruko who both nodded their conformation. Something about them seemed a bit off, though. Like they were looking at her as if she was made of glass, like she was fragile, delicate. But, she couldn't dwell on their strange looks, not with more pressing matters ahead of her. Matters mainly involving two silver-haired idiots.

She then looked to the smug-looking blue-eyed boy whose glare still hadn't wavered from the hut's exit.

Maybe she'd thrown the wrong person out of the hut...

His reason for being in Japan suggested he could have been involved in fighting, but she'd never seen him do it. It had crossed her mind before that Inuyasha could eventually start a fight with Pietro, he was aggressive and overprotective by nature, but she'd never thought it would be Pietro who would throw the first punch. He didn't get worked up easily and he only got really pissed off if he was in a certain kind of mood. He'd only really lost his temper once in the time she'd known him. It had been at the end of the first week she'd known him during lunch...

_Flashback_

All morning she'd been concerned for her new friend. He'd ghosted through his morning classes, barely talking to anyone. Pale and sullen, he even looked like a ghost. His normally bright eyes had dulled and he hadn't even acknowledged her when she greeted him earlier in the morning. The only emotion she had seen him display was a brief spurt of anger that lit up his face in response to a comment one of his brother's made to him. Other than that, he had been completely stoic.

Ah, and then the cafeteria.

She sat at her normal table along with Yuki, Eri, and Ayumi. Hojo was eating with some of his guy friends, a fact she was grateful for.

"Hey Kagome, what's up with Pietro?" Eri asked curiously.

"Yeah, he was totally missing until fourth period and he was a real jerk the whole time." added Ayumi.

"I don't know, I asked Darius earlier but he just laughed and walked away." she confessed dryly, recalling her one-sided conversation with Pietro's older sibling.

"Speak of the devil..." murmured Yuki quietly as the ragged looking boy approached their table. He dropped his tray next to Kagome's, promptly shoving it away, and slamming his head onto the table's hard surface.

"Fuck." He remained like that, gaining odd looks from all four girls. Kagome poked him in the arm with her spoon. No reaction.

"Uhh...Pietro, is something wrong?" She asked gently, giving him another prod with her spoon.

"Yes."

Eri leaned forward, intrigued, "Like what?"

"Lots of things." was his short, hissed reply.

Well, that explained a lot. She was about to poke him again when an arm snaked around her shoulder. In response to this, she shrieked, tried to stand, was held down, and turned to slap the owner of the arm when she realized who it was. Two laughing gray eyes peered into hers.

Darius Shaw.

Master of multiple personalities.

She had first noticed this particular trait about the boy on the third day she knew him. And the fourth. As far as she could tell, he had two definite modes. One: Somewhat depressed, but otherwise normal. Two: Self-confident player with a mean streak.

Obviously she preferred his first one, which luckily seemed to be his default mode. His second mood, on the other hand...well, it was sometimes alluring, but most the time she wanted to stab him with a fork.

Guess which one he was in today?

"T'sup, girls? Enjoying my dear brother's charming behavior?" He flashed them all a toothy grin, all the while keeping an arm around Kagome.

"Go to hell, Darius," muttered Pietro tiredly while Eri, Yuki, and Ayumi gasped at the way Darius was treating Kagome, Yuki's more of a huff then a gasp. She tried in vain to remove the grey-eyed boy's arm from her shoulder. In retaliation for her attempt to free herself, he smirked and pulled her closer.

Pietro's annoyed response seemed to please his brother causing his smirk to grow wider. "Aww...what's wrong bro? Aren't you gonna eat your lunch?" Darius asked mockingly having noticed the abandoned tray belonging to his brother. Pietro, still face down on the table, turned his head slightly, revealing one somber blue eye.

"Darius, have I ever told you how much I hate you?"

Seeing as it was pointless to try and escape the determined twin, she began to elbow him in the ribs. He didn't even glance at her, showing no pain whatsoever.

"Oh, but I'm just worried 'bout you, brah. The patronizing undertone of Darius' words suggested otherwise, "I mean, usually you're so hungry you could eat a human, right?"

"Umm...isn't the expression so hungry you could eat a horse?" Ayumi inquired, cocking her head slightly.

In response Darius beamed a knowing glint in his mercury eyes. She briefly wondered if his mix-up of the expression was purely accidental or not.

"Go. The fuck. Away. Darius." Pietro was seething now, more upset than he should have been about his brother's presence. Darius was taking delight in his brother's distress. The amused smirk he was wearing was growing with every moment he spent harassing his younger sibling. Leaving was probably the last thing on his mind, if anything he wanted to continue to torment the simmering silver-haired boy. His desire to piss off Pietro was probably his reasoning behind what he said next. She hoped so, anyway.

"Hey, Kagome, wanna make out?"

Eri and Ayumi's jaws dropped, not catching the sly grin Darius sent his brother's way. Yuki's eyes lit up with something close to jealousy. Kagome groaned and rolled her eyes at the boy's pseudo request.

Pietro's head snapped up and he leered furiously at his older brother. "Do you want me to kick your ass?"

Darius laughed but, relented and removed his arm from Kagome's shoulder, "Oh, sorry, Pietro, didn't know you wanted her for yourself..."

"What the hell are you talking about? I just...I uh..." He blanched as he tried to think of a reason. Yuki, Ayumi, and Eri watched him expectantly, this was as good as T.V. to them, "I just...umm...well, I know that you tend to cheat on every girl you date so I doubt it would end any better with Kagome."

"Eh, we could do a couple one-night-stands on the side, none of that romance relationshipy type crap." Darius winked at her and she felt her face heat up. The fact that she was blushing was not good. It would give her friends and probably Pietro the wrong impression. The handsome dark haired boy next to her might have been just a little bit sexy but she would never even consider what he was proposing.

"Yeah, you can go have your little fantasies about that somewhere else." hissed Pietro forcefully, fed up with his older brother's jaunts.

"Dude, don't kid yourself. I think you'd do the same thing, given the chance."

Pietro to stood in an angry manner and took a few deep breaths. Regaining his calm, he looked down upon his brother and in a rather condescending way said, "You're insane, Darius. Even the doctors agree. Come back when you're normal."

Darius stood up suavely as he surveyed his brother coolly, "Hmph, you're just mad that you haven't gotten any action since we left America."

Eyes flashing dangerously, Pietro shot back, "And you have?"

"Uh, yeah, what did you think I was doing during math yesterday?"

By now they had the surrounding table's attention though neither noticed. Kagome was not interested in another public spectacle involving her, so she latched onto the front of Pietro's uniform, dragging him down to a sitting position. "You. Sit." she commanded. For the older sibling she focused an intense glare on Darius and said, "Please, Darius, leave. Your brother doesn't feel good, and, frankly, you're not helping."

"Oh, bullshit! He's fine; he's just pretending to be sick so he doesn't have to talk to anyone."

Against Kagome's order, Pietro stood and gave his brother an icy stare, "You stupid, son of a bitch, you know exactly why..." He trailed off, seeming to realize that whatever he said would be heard by all within earshot. Kagome, Eri, Ayumi, and Yuki gave him an odd look when he abruptly stopped while Darius smirked gloatingly.

They had been loud enough to attract the focus of the majority of the cafeteria so it wasn't a surprise when Twin #2 and his lovely assistant showed up.

Iris stalked up to her boyfriend's brother and dug her nails into his arm. She leaned in close to him, to make sure he heard her, "Darius, do you know what I absolutely hate?"

"Iris, you hate anything ranging from ketchup to boy scouts. How the hell should I know what you specifically hate right now?" he answered cheekily.

"True, but it's not that hard. C'mon Darius, don't ya wanna guess?"

He shook his head 'no'.

"Ah, you see, I just can't stand it when I have to deal with the results of you being a dumbass. So stop being an asshole and leave him alone. Provoking him will not end well so I suggest you stop." Her green eyes bored heavily into him and Kagome could have sworn she heard him gulp.

Sadly, the fear left his body and he responded jokingly, "No worries, Iris, I was only trying to express my deep feelings for Kagome, I would never, ever even dream of tormenting my dear, baby brother at a time like this." He gave her an angelic smile and received disbelieving looks.

"Don't even, Dari-"She started but was cut off by her dark-eyed boyfriend.

"Shut the fuck up, Darius! What happened to you doesn't give you the right to be an annoying prick." Darren growled, marching up to face his twin.

"You shouldn't be dragging Kagome into this either." Stated Yuki, standing up for her friend, though their seemed to be a bit of hidden meaning in the schoolgirl's words. Never less, Kagome gave her a grateful look before drifting off into her own ponderings on Darren's words. What had happened to Darius?

"I love how I'm the only one who gets called on for doing this shit. Ash was pulling crap like this all morning and nobody said anything!" Darius responded, defending himself.

"Yes," Darren said, "but that was at home! Not in public!"

"Y'kno what guys, just forget it. I'm just gonna shoot myself and put myself out of my misery. See y'all in hell." Pietro slammed his head back on the table and stayed motionless.

"You're behaving like a child, Darius." Iris scolded, ignoring Pietro's suicidal remark.

"Seriously, man, this is bad even for you."

"Well, maybe I'd have a little more self-control if someone hadn't slipped that vodka into my cereal this morning." muttered Darius, sending a pointed look at Pietro's collapsed form.

His indirect accusation prompted Pietro to sharply raise his head, "Hey, you knew it was there, you didn't have to eat the cereal!"

"And waste a perfectly good bowl of Lucky Charms? I think not." Darius scoffed, crossing his arms.

Kagome watched the knowledge that a student had come to school at least partially drunk spread through her classmates. Many eyes turned to scrutinize the grey eyed boy's movements to see if the rumors were true. Other than a slight wobble whenever he shifted his weight, he honestly didn't look that drunk. Eri turned to raise an eyebrow at Pietro, "You poured vodka in your brother's cereal?"

His expression veered towards sheepish, "It was an accident! I was half-asleep and it felt like the milk container..."

"Mhhmm, yeah, I'm sure. What kind of dumbass can't tell the difference between glass and plastic?" Darius rolled his smoky eyes.

"Darius, this is nothing compared to how smashed you usually get so you can stop complaining." Iris retorted.

"Yeah, we would have had a lot more fun if I was completely hammered." He laughed and gave Kagome a suggestive wink. She was instantly reminded of Miruko and tried, but failed, to hide her smile.

Pietro hissed and began to look more sick, paling and breaking out in a sweat as his previously diminishing anger at his older brother returned.

"And that, Darius, is why you need to leave." Darren snarled grabbing his brother roughly by the shoulders and steering him away from the table.

"Fine, fine, you guys are boring anyway. I'm gonna go explore the finer parts of Tokyo." Darius chuckled and turned to glance at Kagome. He mimicked a phone with his hand and made the "I'll call you" sign which caused Pietro to glare darkly at his departing brother.

He laughed louder and started taking stumbling, tipsy, steps towards the door. Seeming to remember something, he whirled around and looked directly at the envious female at Kagome's left. "And Yuki? Don't worry; I'll be back in time for math." Not even staying to see the horrified looks he had elicited, he hurried out the cafeteria doors, humming along to the tune of "Bedrock" in a drunken way.

"Oh, my gosh, Yuki, he didn't mean..." Ayumi gasped, staring openmouthed at her friend.

"Don't even start, Ayumi." Yuki mumbled, burying her face in her hands.

Trying to change the subject, Eri asked, "What do you think he meant by 'exploring the finer parts of Tokyo?"

"He means he's gonna go sneak out and blow a ton of money on alcohol at some expensive bar. Or bars, depending on his attention span today." Darren answered as he plucked a couple of carrots off his younger brother's lunch tray. "By the way, don't worry about Pietro. Iris is taking him to the nurse."

"Huh?" The girls looked about wildly until Kagome caught sight of a shaking, coughing Pietro being dragged out of the cafeteria his older brother's girlfriend.

In the end, Pietro went home sick, Darius made it out of the school and into the city, and everything went back to normal for the remainder of the day. Many students were surprised that none of the teachers noticed his absence, but considering he was new and they had already taken attendance, it wasn't a huge surprise. On Saturday she received absolutely no communication from her relatively new friend and his family. Sunday, however, involved her being invited over to their home. Upon entering she was greeted with a distraught Darius throwing himself on his knees begging for forgiveness. He apologized profusely for his behavior on Friday and swore it would never happen again. According to him, precautions were taken to ensure the vodka (and the other types of alcohol they possessed) was kept locked up so no one would mix it up with milk. To this, Pietro grinned, and she couldn't help but to forgive the pleading gray eyed boy. And, true to his word, it never happened again.

Flashback End

Now that she had recalled the event, Pietro had similar reactions for both occurrences. Being moody and sick before he got mad, and then overreacting to something, making his sick behavior worse. Except, this time he didn't seem to be getting sicker. He looked quite pleased with himself, actually.

"Pietro?"

Blue eyes found her at the sound of his name. "You have some explaining to do."

"I do?" He gulped.

"Yes. Starting from how you managed to get me away from Hakudoshi."

"Look, I didn't save you, okay? You saved yourself; I just fished you out of the water." He fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt as he explained, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Then why didn't we hear a splash?" Sango asked whilst she observed the guilty-looking boy's movements.

He shrugged in response, "I dunno."

"What do you mean 'I saved myself?" Kagome inquired. How on earth could she have saved herself without knowing it? Granted, her spiritual powers would activate on their own accord when she was in danger, but she was still aware of it.

"Umm...I'm not an expert on the whole 'priestess' thing so I just kind of assumed." Pietro offered her a lopsided grin.

"What he's suggesting does make sense. Though, it is odd that no one saw the usual pink light that accompanies a burst of your spiritual energy, Kagome." Miruko said, also noting Pietro's refusal to look anyone straight in the eye.

"There was an awful lot of that black stuff, but yeah I didn't see any pink lights either."

"There's also the possibility that the jewel shards repelled him. You still have the jewel shards right, Kagome?" She asked, taking a few steps closer to her friend.

Kagome nodded and lifted the jewel-shard decorated necklace from behind her raven-colored mane. It sparkled in the filtered sunlight, gleaming iridescently like a pearl. A few pieces of a pink pearl, mind you. Pure as ever, not a drop of darkness tainted the gem's fragments.

Shippo leapt onto her shoulder to get a better look. "Wow, it's a good thing you didn't lose them, or Inuyasha would have lost it." He piped up enthusiastically.

"Yep, wouldn't want to rob Inuyasha of his ticket to become a bloodthirsty monster now, would we?" The necklace dropped back to her neck as she rolled her chocolate eyes. "Back to the original topic," Pietro half-suppressed a groan, "So I guess we're going with the idea that it was either me or the jewel shards that saved me from Hakudoshi?" she questioned, expecting only nods of agreement.

Inuyasha stormed back into the hut, nostrils flaring, and glaring accusingly at all of them. She sighed, she wasn't ready for a confrontation just yet...

"Are you people fucking kidding me? How hard is it to see that he is lying through his teeth!" his golden eyes searching all their faces. The blue eyed boy he'd accused donned a shocked look and cocked his head in confusion.

"Last night, I heard skin tearing and bones snapping! Now tell me, can Kagome or the jewel shard do that with spiritual power?" Apparently the question was rhetorical because he answered himself, "No! He's not what he says he is! It had to be him!" Inuyasha accused, leering at the innocent-looking boy.

"You're making saving her sound like a bad thing." He muttered, but loud enough for the huts current inhabitants to hear. Kagome had decided much earlier that she wouldn't say one word to Inuyasha unless it was absolutely necessary, like when she kicked him out of the hut. For the most part, she was trying to ignore his jealous little rant. It was up to the others to respond to his raging.

Ignoring Pietro's comment, Miruko looked to Inuyasha, "Just because Pietro was able to compete with you in a fight, Inuyasha, doesn't necessarily mean he could rip up Hakudoshi. He's not exactly the first human to be able to fight you." He said, gesturing to himself and Sango.

"Oh, yeah? Well, can most humans do this?" Inuyasha proclaimed with a grimace as he held out his arms. Gingerly he rolled back each sleeve revealing proof that she couldn't deny.

Five bloody lacerations adorned Inuyasha's sun baked skin on either arm. Lacerations that were lined up in just the way that Pietro had been digging his nails- or should she say claws? - Into Inuyasha's sleeve.

Pietro, who now seemed to be examining his nails (which were indeed caked in blood) and murmuring various swear words, was too engrossed to notice their shocked looks.

"I think we need to talk, Pietro." She said emotionlessly, not sure what to think of her friend. He paled visibly and, from his expression, she could tell he was already fabricating an excuse.

"Sango, can you please wrap up, Inuyasha? There are bandages in my bag. We'll be right back." She turned, grabbed Pietro by the arm, and hauled him out the door.

The demon slayer substituting for a medic stared questioningly after her friend. Miruko shared her perplexed expression but shrugged deciding that Kagome must have known, "I guess you better save some of the bandages, Sango."

Not wanting the rest of the group to hear their conversation, Kagome pulled Pietro until they reached the Sacred Tree. Getting him there required unnecessary effort due to his reluctance to follow-he displayed this by attempting to wrench his arm free and dart off into the forest once or twice. His escape efforts were rather halfhearted, leading her to believe he had given up home almost instantaneously.

Once under the Goshbinkou, she dropped his arm and turned to face him. "Liar." she declared plain and simple.

Pietro showed no interest in her proclamation and instead of responding began pacing anxiously. His blue eyes flickered nervously between her and the ground as he mumbled something to himself.

"Did you hear me?" she asked, chocolate eyes beginning to cloud with irritation.

He reacted slowly, but at least he reacted this time. Halting his pacing, he shot her an uneasy look, "Yes, I heard you." No further response.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Pietro. Do you need more time to think up some crazy explanation for cutting open Inuyasha's arms with your nails? Or are they claws now?" Her words practically dripping with sarcasm and accompanied with a glare, she was confident he got the message.

Looking pale and stressed, Pietro met her eyes and clenched his fists, "Okay, yeah, I lied and said my...ah, secret wasn't dangerous, but I had to! You would have made me tell you. I guess I don't really have much of a choice now...y'see I'm not exactly, well..."

"Go on."

His eyes fell to the ground as he continued, "You probably should have seen this coming, I mean c'mon, even you're not completely normal with that priestess stuff."

"Just tell me, Pietro. Demon? Half-demon? What exactly are you?" She said, now looking at her friend in a new light. Kaede and Inuyasha had been right; Pietro was appearing less human by the moment. 'Hopefully,' she thought, 'he isn't just another power-hungry demon after the jewel shards,'

"Uh, What would you believe?" Pale, unstrung, fingers ran through silver hair.

"I just gave you two options."

He looked irritated, "I'm not a demon. Or part demon in anyway."

"Then what are you?" She repeated, getting angrier.

Pietro's expression turned thoughtful as he considered the question. His blue eyes took on a mischievous glint. "Well, I suppose we've already crossed out werewolf so...How about vampire?"

Oh, no, was he going to laugh this off again? Did he not realize how serious this was? "Pietro, it's sunny out. Since you're not sparkling or burning up, I'd say you're not a vampire."

"Hmm, true. Alright, how about wizard? Sorcerer?"

"Can we please be serious?" Sarcasm got annoying after a certain point and Pietro had long ago passed it.

"Uh, zombie? Alien? Lycanth-Oh, wait never mind that's another word for werewolf." He said jokingly, ignoring her request.

"Pietro..."

"Sidhe? Shifter? Skinwalker? Jersey Devil? Demi-god? Fey? Dream-eater? Ghost? Wendigo? Believe me, I could go on."

"What are you even talking about?" Most of the creatures he listed sounded like he'd made up on the spot.

"Oh, I'm stalling. You see in about," He glanced at an imaginary watch on his wrist, "five seconds I'm gonna pass out from the blood loss."

Alarm bells went off in her head. She meant to ask "What blood loss?" but somewhere between the "blood" and the "loss" Pietro's eyes rolled upwards and he fell face-first onto the leaf-covered ground.

Dark, red liquid dyed the back of his navy shirt a deep scarlet. Somehow he'd managed to face her in just the right way so she couldn't see the messy wound. A great deal of the claret fluid had soaked into his shirt, preventing it from dripping anywhere previously visible. Without hesitation, she kneeled down and pulled up the garment revealing a deep, jagged cut stretching diagonally halfway down his back. The lesion wasn't clean and whatever had sliced his back had caught and ripped at the edges of his skin. It was clearly the work of Inuyasha's angry claws, probably a blow delivered during the fight she had missed.

Dragging him back to the hut wasn't an option; she couldn't pull his dead weight even if she tried. Besides, she doubted being yanked and jerked across the forest floor would help his condition. However, he did need to be wrapped up before he bled out; this wasn't Inuyasha she was dealing with. Pietro could easily die from an injury like this.

Panic lit up her mocha eyes as she realized the desperation of their situation. Leaving him to go for help wasn't an option; demons were probably already catching the scent of his blood. Unconscious and unprotected, he wouldn't last two seconds. Waiting for him to wake up wasn't much better, seeing as the possibility that he wouldn't wake up was extremely feasible. She didn't like it, but it was the only other alternative she could think of. Her (well, his) only hope was that Inuyasha would hear if she yelled for help.

So she screamed and screamed the name of the half-demon she had convinced herself she hated, hoping and praying he would find her in time to save Pietro. Ten minutes later and no sign of a response, she stopped shrieking, figuring he would have been there by now, and instead focused on Pietro. Pressing the cloth of his shirt into the gash didn't seem to do much to slow the bleeding, and the knowledge she had of medical care for humans told her he didn't have much time left. Assuming he was human, that is. Much to her dismay, he hadn't answered her question seriously but gave her names of creatures she'd never heard of. Some seemed fake and none of the ones she recognized fit Pietro. Demi-god, maybe, if you believed in that Greek mythology stuff, which she didn't, but he didn't seem all that godly to her. Not in the personality anyway.

Right now, though, she wished he was a Demi-god or a demon or anything that healed faster than a human. Something that would cause him to not be here, dying in front of her.

As if in response to her wish, the supposedly dying boy started to stir. Wild, cobalt eyes flew open and he twisted himself into a sitting position so fast she almost fell on top of him. Successfully avoiding an awkward situation, she regained her balance and stopped herself from careening into his chest.

"Lay back down Pietro! You're bleeding really badly!" she cried urgently. Moving was never helpful to wounds that had a chance of being fatal.

Instead of arguing like she expected he would, he followed her orders and stretched himself out on his stomach, wincing when he jostled the shoulder that had been slashed.

"Tell me right now why you thought it would be okay to hide the fact that you're practically bleeding to death!" she demanded like she was talking to a naughty child.

"I may have...err, forgotten to tell you about this little issue I have with my mental health." he said in a sheepish tone that most almost-16-year-old-boys-who-were-bleeding-to-death couldn't pull off.

He continued, "It's something I take medicine for, but I left all my medication back at my room. Y'see I'm a bit of a compulsive liar, I honestly can't help myself. "

Her mouth dropped. In all the time she had known him, the fact that he was a compulsive liar never slipped out? Not one of his family members had thought to inform her of this detail? She knew about Darius' split personality thing, but not this? And his compulsion to lie surpassed the instinct of self-preservation and let him bleed to the point where he fainted? Something about this didn't seem quite right.

"That's just great, Pietro. Not only are you dying, but you're sick in the head too?" If she wasn't so concerned that he didn't have much time left, she would have been furious. Fortunately for him, no anger could fill her eyes as she was already beginning to tear up from the impending demise of her friend who had started to stare at her oddly.

"Oh, dear God, no more crying! I mean, I know this looks pretty gruesome but I'm pretty sure it's not gonna kill me!" He chuckled and raised an eyebrow as she tried to fight off the sobs building up in her chest.

"Don't kid yourself, Pietro, he cut you wide open." She said morosely to the in-denial boy lying in front of her.

"It's already stopped bleeding. I've got enough blood left in me to stay alive."

To her surprise, he was telling the truth- the cut had stopped pumping out his lifeblood. This brought her back to the "inhumanly fast healing factor that she had hoped he had." Because he had pretty much admitted to not being human, right?

"I guess that pretty much proves it. You aren't human." Her last hopes of his normalcy had finally vanished.

"Uh, yes I am? I was bleeding for a while; it's not a surprise that it started to clot."

"Pietro, what do you know about serious injuries?" She snapped. He'd probably never dealt with wounds like this back in the modern era. How would he know how fast a cut like that was supposed to heal?

"More than you would think, and Kagome, I know you've been dealing with this stuff for awhile now, but I don't think that gives you the experience to play doctor." He argued, and she had to admit, there was a hint of truth to what he was saying. She didn't know all that much about how people were supposed to heal, but from the knowledge she gained from the injuries she had tended to, Pietro was healing abnormally fast.

"Then explain what you did to Inuyasha's arm!" she challenged, not ready to give up.

He laughed, "Ever seen Disturbia? It's not impossible for a human to pierce the skin with just their nails."

Though she had never seen Disturbia, she began to see his point. She had once read that human nails were made out of the same material as antlers and the horns some animals sported. It was just odd that he was explaining himself now, and not much earlier in the hut where he should have.

"Why did you start listing all those monsters if you were really human after all?"

Pietro pointed at himself, "Compulsive li-"

"Okay, I get it." she huffed; annoyed that he had wiggled his way out of another interrogation. Was his deep-dark secret only that he had a problem lying? Compared to some of the things she had contemplated, that was nothing.

Suddenly she heard footsteps rapidly approaching and all thoughts of Pietro's confession fled her mind. Although he had managed to avoid death, he still wasn't prepared to defend himself from a demon and she, without her arrows, wouldn't be of much use either. Her breath caught in her throat as the figure running towards her broke through the tree line.

Out of the foliage dashed an anxiety ridden hanyou. Golden eyes ablaze with worry immediately rested on her still form staring straight back at him.

"Oi, wench, why'd you call me out here? You're not in any danger are you?" He asked, a hint of irritation layered over his concerned voice.

"It's not me." She bit her lip and glanced over at Pietro's marred body.

One of his ears twitched with annoyance. "Feh, I don't give a damn about him. If that's all you called me out here for, I'm going back."

"Inuyasha..." she warned, the's' word on the tip of her tongue.

He froze in anticipation and examined her carefully. After a minute or so, he relented and sighed with defeat, "Fine, what do you want?"

"Don't be a jerk about this, Inuyasha! You were the one who did this to him!" she snapped, an angry edge to her voice.

"Keh," He retorted rudely, haughtily lifting his nose into the air.

Kagome sighed heavily. "Take him back to the village and have Kaede patch him up. And you'd better not leave him here or drop him."

Malice flitted through Inuyasha's amber eyes as he glanced at Pietro. Though the injury had been inflicted by the dog boy's claws, he felt neither guilt nor desire to assist the possibly-but-not-likely-human boy, "What about you, Kagome?"

"I'm going back to the future to get Pietro's medicine that he conveniently forgot," Chocolate eyes glared meaningfully at his narrowed blue ones, "And if it turns out you don't take special medication, we're going to repeat our earlier conversation and you're going to answer truthfully."

"You're not going back to your world, Kagome. Not after last time!" The demanding hanyou crossed his arms.

Kagome, in frustration, shut her eyes. For a few awkward seconds of silence, she tried to get a hold on her emotions. Anger was bubbling inside her, due to Inuyasha's controlling nature. Along with that were the unsorted feelings she still held for the hanyou. The notion that she hatred she him was still what she longed to be true, but she just wasn't sure.

Unrepressed rage leaking into her speech, she replied, "Oh shut up, Inuyasha! Your selfish reasons aren't going to keep me here and they never will! I'm going to do whatever I-"

"Um, not that I think dog boy over there should dictate what you do, but I'm not sure going back's a good idea either. Or going anywhere near my family without me there. You know how Darius can be, and you've never really been around Kalani and Ash that much." Pietro cut in nervously.

"Now you're both against me? Okay, you know what, I'm just gonna go! I'll be back in time for dinner!" The raven-haired miko's temper flared causing her to shout and begin stomping off to the Bone Eater's well.

The hanyou was at a loss for words whilst Pietro paled considerably. To her retreating form he shouted, "Fine! But can you bring me back a shot glass of Dayquil? I've got one hell of a migraine!" She gave no signal that she had heard and only continued to march off farther down the dirt path leading to the well.

Pietro

This was not good. It's not like he could tell her what was really wrong with him. Not without immediately killing her after, anyway. And he kinda liked Kagome so her death would upset him. Just a little bit.

The main problem, though, was that she was going to be upfront and close with one and more members of his family. Sure, it was a school day, but that hardly meant anything to them. He wouldn't be surprised if at least four out of five members were home. And if Darius didn't assault her first, one of those idiots would spill their little secret.

They would all get quite the shock when she showed up outside their. At least, they wouldn't attack her or anything. He knew exactly what they would think the moment they saw her alive and well. And it was absolutely not true and never would be. Ever. But they didn't know that so it would keep her safe for the time-being. He would have to set his story straight as soon as he made it back home. Not something he was particularly looking forward to, they would still be very angry with him, but at least he would be able to eat some real food. So he sorta wanted to go home.

This led him to the conclusion that he needed to get rid of Inuyasha so he could start doing what he was supposed to be doing. And thus completing that, he would be able to get back to his family.

Oh, and there was that whole time limit thing but that wasn't up for awhile.

Pietro rolled over, stood, stretched, and turned to face a pissed dog demon. Inuyasha was eyeing him strangely, probably due to his quick recovery. "Weren't you dying just a few seconds ago?" The hanyou asked, raising a dark brow.

"Okay, dog, you and I both know I'm not human. Not completely human, anyway. So I can't believe you're all that surprised." His cobalt eyes rolled and he attempted (but failed) to reach the closing wound on his back.

Inuyasha's golden eyes flashed with fury and hint of 'Ha, I knew it' delight. "Of course you aren't. My nose never lies! I'm telling Kagome the minute she steps back into our era and then she'll learn to listen to me when I-"

"Why?" exclaimed Pietro. "It's not like being a little bit inhuman has done anything wrong." He said a persuasive tone in his voice.

At this point, confusion was drawn all over Inuyasha's tan features. The hanyou appeared to be having conflictions with his emotions and opinions. He took a step closer to Pietro and sniffed. "What exactly are you?"

Blue eyes darkening, he sighed, a sigh that could have been taken as a tired, melancholy release of air, but was really an irritated 'Why are we veering away from the subject' sigh. Putting on an innocent facade, he answered, "I'm not really sure."

"What do you mean you're not sure?" He growled uncertainly.

"Okay, first off, I have yet to come across a demon in my time. My best guess is over the past 500 years, they've either died out or inbred with the humans to the point where they're no longer really demons. If the latter is true, a lot of humans could have ended up with very small amounts of demon blood. See what I'm getting at?" Where the hell did he get that explanation from? Either God was on his side or he was getting really good at his job. Especially since Inuyasha seemed to be seriously considering this as truth.

The half demon eyed Pietro with his remaining bits of skepticism. "So you're saying at some point your family had a demon or demons in it?"

"That's my guess. Don't know what kind or how the demon genes work. I doubt I've got much demon blood in me. My nails sharpen a little when I'm pissed or in a fight but that's about it. Maybe some extra strength but it's hard to tell." Pulling off this nonchalant attitude was turning about to be easier than he thought. Just a few hours ago he was ready to rip out dog-boy's throat but now he was speaking to him with a civil tongue.

"You better not be lying. What you're saying makes sense but it doesn't explain how you stopped Hakudoshi. And I know you didn't just get Kagome out of the water. That water knocks out anyone stupid enough to touch it, let alone jump into it." Suspicion was heavy in the hanyou's voice.

"Yeah, I know, but that whole night's still kinda hazy. I'm just glad the rest of them accepted that story until I can remember what really happened. You won't tell that I made it up, right?" Damn, he was screwed if Inuyasha decided to enlighten the monk and the slayer of his minor lie.

Luck was on his side that day because Inuyasha shook his head, "No, not unless Kagome doesn't show up tonight. You're going to tell her as soon as she gets back, along with all that other stuff!" The hanyou ordered, trying to intimidate him with a menacing stare.

Despite himself, Pietro could not hide the small grin that surfaced to his face due to his victorious deception and the hanyou's pitiful attempt to scare him. He tried to stare at the floor to disguise his smile but it must have been too late for Inuyasha suddenly added on to his threat, "And I still don't trust you!"

The not-so-human boy, pretending to be downcast, continued to examine the forest leaves. "I understand. And yes, I'll tell Kagome everything if my family doesn't let it slip first."

Inuyasha nodded, happy that Kagome would be learning the truth about the 'human' she'd placed so much trust in.

Pietro, lightening up, raised his head to face Inuyasha, a pleasant grin set on his face. "Well, I guess this means you won't be carrying me back to the hut."

Inuyasha brightened as he realized this, "Yeah, I guess we better start walking them."

"Actually," he replied, a sly glint in his blue eyes, "I was thinking we could take the day off. I've got some...stuff to do. I'm sure you've got something important to do?"

"What about when Kagome comes back and Sango, Miruko, or Shippo tells her that we weren't there?" A fluffy ear twitched, not yet positive this was a great idea.

"I'll take care of that, you don't even have to worry about them." Pietro said genuinely. He really was going to take care of that part of this.

Doubt flickered behind golden eyes. It looked like he was about to say no when a flash if realization swept across Inuyasha's face. Suddenly, appearing rushed, he nodded quickly to the smiling boy. "Okay, fine. As long as no one finds out about this!"

Pietro's smirk widened. "Do we have a deal?" He stuck out a normal non-claw-tipped hand.

Inuyasha hurried and vigorously shook his hand, "Deal. Feh. Whatever." Taking one last look at the ominous looking smile stretched across Pietro's face, Inuyasha dashed off into a pathless part of the forest.

That was way too easy. Maybe he really was a compulsive liar...

Now, to make sure Kagome made it to the well.

Boredom clouding his vision, he waited for the young miko to reach the portal to the future. Apparently, he'd overestimated her speed because this was taking longer than he expected. Hopefully, some demon hadn't attacked her. Most of the weaker demons around here were more of a nuisance than a threat but he didn't feel like unsheathing his claws again. They were getting hard to retract and Kagome was already suspicious.

Thankfully, the priestess' petite form stomped angrily out into the clearing. She obviously hadn't calmed down yet. Oh well, he didn't care as long as she left.

Kagome perched herself on the lip of the well and fingered the jewel shards around her neck. Lost in her own thoughts, she spoke aloud, under the impression no one could hear her.

"You better be human, Pietro." She whispered and dropped herself into the inner depths of the well.

He chucked darkly. Emerging from his vantage point in the nearby brush, he strolled over to stare down into the black portal. "Well, I'm 12.5% human, but hey, who's counting?"

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

A/N: Ah, and there's chapter 8 for ya! Sorry about the tiny cliffy at the end but it's hardly a cliffhanger. Pietro's not gonna act on that little statement for a few chapters yet ;)

Also, the reviewer demoness (thanks for the awesome review!) pointed out a little mistake I made. Back in chapter 3 I think a sentence mistakenly referred to Pietro as a hanyou. HE IS NOT A HALF DEMON. Okay, I'm not sure if that's a spoiler but it's my story so HA! And imma fix that anyway so it's all good.

Just out of curiosity, (and now that you know he isn't a half-demon), what do you think Pietro is? Hehe, I'm just wondering because the clues I've given so far don't make what I have in mind that obvious XD

As you all may know, I love reviews so, uhh...review or I will DESTROY THE WORLD AND YOU WILL ALL BE DOOMED! DOOMED, I SAY! MWAHAHAHAHA!

~ The Almighty Skittle Dog 


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